Through My Window: Across the Sea Review: A Story for a Specific Target | Netflix Film
Cast: Julio Peña, Clara Galle, Hugo Arbués, Eric Masip, Natalia Azahara, Guillermo Lasheras and Emilia Lazo
Director: Marçal Forés
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 2/5 (two stars)
Through My Window: Across the Sea (A través del mar) arrives on Netflix on Friday 23 June. How tired are we of these somewhat romantic, somewhat dramatic young adult films that deal with incredibly promiscuous teenagers or young people and throw a lot of nonsensical arguments and pointless plot twists into the cauldron? Raise your hand, give a number from 1 to 10, and read on. Through My Window: Across the Sea is the second chapter of a saga based on the books by Ariana Godby. The first film was released in 2022 and the making of a third has been made official. The film is directed by Marçal Forés and written by Forés with Godby and is of Spanish production.
The sequel just landed on Netflix does not follow, as we imagined, the story of another of the characters directly (as instead happens in Godoy’s second novel, Through You) but continues the story of Ares and Raquel, protagonists of the previous film. In the story Artemis, who was to be the new protagonist together with his beloved Claudia, we see something, but everything remains in the background compared to the “main couple”. A winning idea to focus once again on Ares and Raquel? In our opinion not particularly, because, as we will see in this review of Through My Window: Across the Sea, the story that is at the center of this second film is never particularly engaging, if, in the previous chapter, the explosive chemistry that bound the two protagonists made the vision rather intrigued, here everything cools down, making the conflicts – which should stimulate the viewer to continue watching – tedious to say the least. The story of Ares and Raquel will continue in a third feature film, as announced to us at the end of this one, but we are not that motivated to continue, as much as what we saw left us indifferent.
Through My Window: Across the Sea Review: The Story Plot
Ares (Julio Peña) and Raquel (Clara Galle) continue their story, albeit at a distance: she remained in Barcelona and studied literature at the university – not shelving, however, the desire to publish her first novel, Through My Window, which tells his love story – he instead moved to Stockholm, following the dream of becoming a doctor. However, things are not going well for Ares, and the boy wonders if he made the right choice. Back in Spain for the summer holidays, he and Raquel leave the city for his seaside villa, where they try to rediscover the naturalness and passion that characterized their love story when they weren’t far away yet. To follow their lifelong friends, Daniela and Yoshi, his brothers, Artemis and Apolo, and also two newcomers, Gregory and Vera, who have a sentimental interest in the protagonists. Will Ares and Raquel be able to rekindle the feeling or are things between them about to end? Between twists and unexpected events, the summer holidays of the two will be anything but peaceful, and their story will be put in danger several times…
In the first film we were able to observe the progressive approach of Ares and Raquel, so different yet so attracted to each other. Now, finally, they are together, but a new challenge is on the horizon: that of distance. Ares studies medicine in Stockholm and Raquel literature in Barcelona. Initially, they are committed to making it work, then inevitably they begin to move away, meet new people, and feel less and less. Just as Raquel begins to consider the open couple option, Ares decides that she doesn’t want to give up and visits her on the feast of San Giovanni. Together with them, on holiday by the sea in the villa of his wealthy parents, a huge group of her friends and his friends, all linked by more or less serious relationships, for a break that should be relaxing, but makes you feel the knots in the chest and stir the waters. Will our heroes be able to find each other?
Through My Window: Across the Sea Review and Analysis
As we anticipated at the beginning of this Through My Window: Across the Sea, the passion that had characterized the first film is missing: if on the one hand, this is not a bad thing, the sex scenes in the previous chapter were wasted and were perhaps a little too many since they were of a story of teenagers, in this the flame between the two protagonists, and the chemistry that bound them, seem to have faded, with the emergence of a series of existential problems which, although justified and certainly pertinent when speaking of young adults, do not they are explored enough to become interesting and stimulating for the viewer. Not even the two new characters, Gregory and Vera, inserted just to create havoc in the couple, are sufficiently characterized, and for this reason, the whole subplot linked to them is decidedly unconvincing.
Similarly, even the storylines of Ares’ brothers, Apolo and Artemis (that of the latter, as we said, was at the center of Godoy’s second novel), have very little intrigue and are not capable of dragging and capturing anyone Look. We find it difficult to believe that even the specific target for whom this story is imagined can truly appreciate it, especially when there are dozens and dozens of products designed for young adults that are more successful and decidedly more engaging, even on Netflix alone. Maybe with the next chapter of the story things will improve a bit, especially given what happened at the end of this Across the Sea things could take an unexpected turn away from the usual clichés.
It’s hard to watch a movie when the protagonists are so deeply unsympathetic and/or insignificant and move through the world as if guided solely by chance, misbehaving and hurting each other sometimes for no apparent reason. The only interesting characters are perhaps a couple of friends, secondary, who carry on weak sub-plots and who aren’t given enough space. There is no deepening, there is no reflection. At some points, this film seems to have been shot for a television commercial (that of the Sammontana croissants, to be clear) and it slips away like water, leaving no sensation whatsoever. It’s amazing how insignificant it is. Even the final twist, which should be a tragic turning point in the lives of our young protagonists, is told in a lackluster way. And it’s not a question of the target audience: there is a way to make good films for young romantics. It’s not that.
Through My Window: Across the Sea Review: The Last Words
Passion fades away in this second episode of the Through My Window saga: the chemistry between the characters played by Julio Peña and Clara Galle is less evident and the plot is not as involving as that of the previous film. At some points, this film seems to have been shot for a television commercial (that of the Sammontana croissants, to be clear) and it slips away like water, leaving no sensation whatsoever. It’s amazing how insignificant it is. Even the final twist, which should be a tragic turning point in the lives of our young protagonists, is told in a lackluster way. And it’s not a question of target audience: there is a way of making films for young romantics. It’s not that.
