Hi, Are You Alone?

Like her performance as the red-haired Maite in Ken Loach's Land and Freedom, actress-turned-writer/director Icíar Bollaín's first feature is simple, direct and infused with feeling. Part road movie and part domestic drama, it follows two 20-year-olds, moody Niña (Silke) and vivacious Trini (Peña), as they wander about Spain in search of money, love and a sense of belonging. Alternating between spells on the road and brief experiments with various forms of domesticity, the ill-matched pair share rooms, a boyfriend (the Russian-speaking 'Olaf') and, more problematically, Niña's estranged mother Mariló (Irureta). The uncontrived situations, flawed characters and unforced humour are revealing yet never judgmental.