The motion picture ¨Tierra Firme¨or ¨Anchor and Hope¨(2017) was innovatively but imperfectly directed by Carlos Marques-Marcet , here Marques adapts to the times and find a particular romance in the ways people are living today; concerning two women, Eva and Kat, and the best friend of one of them. At 38 years old, Eva (Oona Chaplin) fears that her biological clock is about to stop forever, but her girlfriend Kat (Natalia Tena) doesn't want a newborn to alter the free and carefree existence that they both live on a boat in the London canals . When Roger (David Verdaguer) arrives from his visit from Barcelona, Eva not only sees him as her girlfriend's best friend, but also as the best emotional ally imaginable, as well as a potential donor. A boat in the canals of London and a question: Is it possible to live love, family, and life in such different ways and yet remain united?
With a sober and austere staging and relying exclusively on the three protagonists the director puts together a romantic tale with brief touches of drama, but full of foul language ,sexual scenes and resulting in a mediocre and boring film. We immediately see that the story is going to be told from some unorthodox perspectives with many scenes on a boat. It may sometimes be 'hipster' and artificial, but at the same time it is endowed with an emotional handwriting full of subtlety, but everything is ruined due to innocuous as well as lousy dialogue, swearing, sex and other ridiculous events. Despite its low budget the picture manages to be intelligent at times, but also a little bit dull, it becomes overlong and heavy to follow. The good thing about this film is that the director made it on a shoestring budget only having to do a few sets, yet the movie partially works on various levels but is eventually reconfigured. Second feature film by Carlos Marqués after his celebrated debut '10,000 kilometres', he repeats the cast with David Verdaguer (Los días que vendrán, Lo dejo cuando quiero) , and Natalia Tena (Game of Thrones, Harry Potter saga), along with Oona Chaplin (Proyecto Lázaro, El hijo de Cain) and the special appearance of Geraldine Chaplin (Doctor Zhivago). Oona Chaplin and Geraldine Chaplin are daughter and mother in real life and in this film. Oona Chaplin and Natalia Tena both previously starred in Black Mirror and Game of thrones together. While David Verdaguer is considered to be, nowadays, one of the best Spanish actors, even this year he has received the Goya for best actor for his extraordinary performance in 'Saben aquell'.
¨Anchor and Hope¨(2017) contains a atmospheric cinematography by cameraman Dagmar Weaver-Madsen shot on location in Regent's Canal, London, England, United Kingdom. There are also some attractive songs, such as: ¨Sweat (A La La La La Long)¨ written by Ian Lewis performed by Inner Circle; ¨Yo vendo unos ojos negros¨ performed by Natalia Tena; ¨Oh! Susanna¨ written by Stephen Foster, performed by Oona Chaplin.
The movie , a Lastor Media Production in co-production with La Panda, Venner Production Companies was mediocre but professionally made. Carlos Marques-Marcet directed from a script he co-wrote with Jules Nurrish, based on the book "Maternidades Subversivas" by Maria Llopis . Carlos Marques-Marcet is a fine editor, writer and director , known for Shorts such as ¨The Yellow Ribbon¨ (2012) and ¨I'll Be Alone¨ (2010) , being his first film : ¨It Felt Like Love¨ (2013) , followed by ¨10.000 Km¨ (2014), the latter is a techno-romance story developing an insightful and stirring love story for the technology age, even Broad Green Pictures acquired U. S. distribution and international sales rights from Visit Films for this love story. ¨Anchor and Hope¨ (2017) won award Best film in a non-Catalan language and Best actor at the Gaudi awards.
