We are introduced to an out and proud 70-something Vicente, who left both the closet and his old life behind for the more hedonistic charms of the gay-friendly Maspalomas resort on Gran Canaria. A split with his long-term partner has put him back on the market, and he is enjoying his life filled with with hooks up in the dunes or nightclubs, parties etc, until a mishap happens. He does this without a worry in the world, since an old friend is in charge of the financial support for both Vicente and his dog. A medical emergency brings him back to his old hometown, where his estranged daughter puts him in a retirement home till he recovers. Since he left his wife and child many years ago, he is virtually a stranger to his daughter now. Faced with a new living situation, Vicente must also deal with being back in the closet, as it’s unlikely his fellow residents would be open to such a detail. The assistant who gets assigned to him is gay (which is confirmed through gay app on the phone), but that scares Vincent of his own sexuality. We slowly monitor his recovery progress and his im[rving relations with his daughter. His roommate becomes hisfreind and a man with a personality that Vincent always wanted to have. The film slowly moves into starting of Covid times and finally Vincent decides to come out gay, but leaves the retirement home to go back to Maspalomas. The world is entering lockdown phase in covid but at least he is back to being free again.
Maspalomas is primarily a character-study of a spirited gentleman in the twilight of his years. When he is partying an enjoying life in the beginning, he is a dapper confident man and now being partially paralyzed and on wheelchair with a grown beard, he is barely recognizable. At its core, it's about Vincent regaining his confidence, passively thanks to his older roommate, a happy go lucky man with far right views. It's he who brings Vincent back to life, refusing to let him retreat. It’s Vincente who is holding himself back rather than anyone else. While non-judgemental of him, the film shows how his loneliness is, at least in part, a different sort of closet he has constructed for himself. There’s a rich vein of humor stemming from Vincente’s outwardly hostile attitude to gay care home worker. The lead actor playing Vincent is there in every single scene in the film. He is filled with hope and lust for life in the early stages and subsequently with dejection when Vicente has to rebuild his existence from the ground up. The film is not just a story about aging and homosexuality - it's a hymn to dignity, to tenderness, to the right to keep feeling. It speaks of forgiveness, of reunion, of the beauty of no longer hiding. It's unafraid of sex or silence, because looking straight at the truth is itself a political act. It all builds to a quietly emotional climax that meditates on various types of isolation, meaning of friendship and family in the context of what is essentially a coming-of-old-age narrative. Even with its slightly melancholic tune (and bad subtitle version that I saw), there was still very real and very charming about the film. Visually beautiful, th beach, the sand, the sex scenes in the first 10 minutes and the ending. For gay men like me, we all will eventually reach that age where we don't know what direction our life will take. (7.5/10)
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