– Spanish newcomer Carlos Saiz brings together a dysfunctional family in a road movie with no clear direction, recapturing a sentimental memory with the help of a bespoke soundtrack
Lionel Corral and Lionel Corral Bernal in Lionel
From a sociological perspective, the protagonist of the film that bears his name, Lionel – distraught at the imminent loss of his orphan’s pension after his mother’s death, unsure what to do with his life and anxious about an uncertain future – is a NEET: a young person adrift, neither studying nor working. But with a curious, non-judgemental perspective, director Carlos Saiz lifts him out of the statistics and places him at the centre of an emotional journey that, while lacking a definitive resolution, is nonetheless therapeutic, transformative and revealing. It becomes a journey in which his reunion with his father — also named Lionel — evolves from an ordeal into an experience of rediscovering shared memories and emotional bonds. The characters in Lionel are entirely real, even though the film is not strictly a documentary. It all began in Cluj-Napoca a decade ago, where Saiz met Lionel Jr., and now the film is being screened there, in the competition section of the Transilvania International Film Festival..
Lionel senior is also a NEET, albeit an older one; he smokes joints, has outbursts of rage and is not always easy to get along with. His son feels a mixture of resentment, pity and shame towards him. Yet despite this rejection, and despite years of distance, he gets into the car to travel with him from Murcia to Marseille for his sister Alicia’s birthday, where she works as a Spanish teacher. At first, the father appears apathetic and unsociable, and Lionel suspicious and withdrawn. But gradually, the father becomes enthusiastic about showing his now grown-up children the places where they spent their summers before the divorce from their late mother, when they were still a family, while the two siblings begin to communicate with a sincerity they had never shown before. Nothing extraordinary happens to them, and yet everything happens at once. More important than the plot is the inner world of young Lionel, which unfolds before our eyes in emotional ebbs and flows. To the rhythm of songs – some well-known, others less so – and in tune with their moods, we come to understand him more deeply, even beyond what is spoken.
A deeply personal story, devoid of grand narrative devices, Lionel seems on paper to promise something familiar — the clash between generations and models of masculinity, the rebuilding of a father-son relationship — yet it ultimately proves light-hearted and engrossing. This is not only due to the charisma of its protagonists, who are given the freedom to be themselves, but also to the work of a director who weaves a delicate cinematic tapestry from glances, intimate shots, awkward gestures and an ever-present soundtrack. In doing so, Saiz succeeds in portraying with honesty not only this family relationship, but also a side of Spanish life rarely seen on screen: harsh, stagnant and melancholic, even in the sunlight.
Lionel was produced by Spanish companies Bluconic Films AIE, Blur Media and Icónica Films and the French company Promenades Films.
(Translated from Spanish)
