Director: Juana Macias
Writer(s): Laura Sarmiento Pallares, based on the novel by Elisabet Benavent
Starring: Maria Valverde, Alex Gonzalez, Elisabet Casanovas and Susana Abaitua
After forcing our way through most of the lame American rom-coms - you know, those B-grade (or worse) flicks that turn predictability and “blah” into an art form - we’ve recently begun focusing our attention to foreign attempts at the subgenre. And, despite their questionably low IMDb scores, we’ve found them to be much more charming - and infinitely better - on the whole.
Sounds Like Love is a Spanish import that follows Maca, a 30-year-old who works as an assistant to a cold-hearted and cruel social media influencer. When she’s not at work, she’s either spending time with her two best friends, Jimena and Adriana, or hooking up with a man named Coque for some casual sex inside her car.
Of course, she has some troubles with love or we wouldn’t be watching a rom-com: Her romantic kryptonite comes in the form of Leo, her ex-lover and the one who got away. The two of them were inseparable, looking to get a house together, before he just up and split, without so much as a goodbye. Well, guess who reappears just as she seems to be getting her life back on track…and guess who’s also dating one of her colleagues?
At first, the two start trading jabs, with the jilted woman attempting to gain some revenge on the lover who did her wrong: she shows up to his college class and calls his itinerary out for being sexist. He, in turn, pretends to seduce her, before suddenly revealing it was just a game. But then, what appear to be hostile feelings between the two, somehow bloom into the possibility of true love.
What separates Sounds Like Love apart from similar movies of its ilk is the narrative structure: Maca constantly breaks the fourth wall, talking to the viewer directly in between scenes to explain things in more elaborate detail; she’s visited by “angel” and “devil” versions of herself in a segment called “Crappy Decisions”; and the story doesn’t just focus on her own love life, but also those of Jimena and Adriana. This at least helps to give it more of a “complexity” missing from similar movies, where the main couple are essentially the only characters we’re supposed to be cheering for.
Honestly, this isn’t a rom-com so much as a vehicle for “female empowerment”. I know, I know, you’re probably groaning at that statement; it’s become a catch-all for all sorts of preachy vehicles that attempt to force the independence of women down our throats. In fact, the rom-com itself might be a thing of the past soon, as female voices rebel against the idea of a woman’s sole purpose in life being in a committed relationship with a member of the opposite sex to begin with.
But before you go casting this aside for that reason, hear me out: This is done in a charming way. It’s about one woman who discovers that she can’t possibly love someone else, until she loves herself first. That idea might sound a little corny, if not cliched, but it presents that angle without ever being too heavy handed.
There are some flaws: For starters, this was based on the "Canciones y Recuerdos" two-book series from author Elisabet Benavent. The books take up 500 pages, of which Sounds Like Love had to cut down into a runtime under two hours. This means there were entire plotlines that had to be excised; it’s a shame Netflix couldn’t turn this into a two-movie deal to fully flesh out the books into movie form.
Another example: The change between Maca and Leo’s previously hostile relationship, into legitimate love is rather forced and unrealistic. The two spend the first half of the movie trading barbs with one another (some of which are actually quite brutal emotionally, especially for Maca), and then all of a sudden Leo becomes a good guy who falls back in love with his former flame. It's done without precedent, and so quickly that it seems like a more elaborate prank.
Despite those cons, I’m actually shocked at Sounds Like Love’s dismissal in reviews as a “predictable” rom-com; it makes me wonder if those people actually watched it. I mean, I guess I can’t really call it unpredictable, but within the realm of these movies, it has a few tricks up its sleeve.
Like the fleshing out of its side characters, Jimena and Adriana. The former is a woman obsessed with her dead lover, who searches for characteristics of him in every man that she dates. The latter is a woman in an unfulfilled marriage, who becomes attracted to the “other” woman in a threesome with her husband. Their stories blend in with Maca’s, and while they lead toward obvious conclusions, they have an element that is both human, and uplifting.
Then there’s Maca’s ending, in which she reveals what the ending would be like “if this were a rom-com”. In a refreshing change of pace, that’s not the way this story ends.
ENTERTAINMENT RATING: 8/10
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