For Reel

Director: Aarón Fernández Lesur

There’s little that The Empty Hours says other than, “sometimes bored, lonely people have sex”, but maybe that’s enough. That’s not to say that the characters don’t benefit emotionally from their consummation–clearly, the unlikely lovers are both at a crossroads and in some ways needed the type of connection that they find–but the film is a vacation, a brief episode in what seems like a much longer journey of self-discovery. Director Aarón Fernández Lesur leisures in the languid pacing, focusing on the types of details that one only becomes aware of when all other distractions are removed. A bottle cap moving across the floor seems almost magical, even if we know that it’s motorized by the beetle that’s pushing it. Surprisingly, when Sebastian and Miranda inevitably share a bed together, it isn’t particularly sexy. They’re attractive, yes, but romantic or sexual passion isn’t the point–it is about a feeling, a moment. They clearly enjoy each other’s company and have shared something unique, but are they making love or simply passing the time?