Spain's version of tortured Gen Z love (think After or The Kissing Booth), this film series is proving popular on Netflix despite flimsy characters and predictable plots.
What Through My Window: Across the Sea has, like those other film series, is beautiful people enjoying their youth, having sex, and partying. Nothing wrong with that, but it would be much more interesting to watch if the characters had more personality. We're meant to believe Raquel is a talented writer, for instance, but there's nothing in her dialogues or actions that suggests a thinker's interior world.
Meanwhile, young women seem to relate to their male counterparts in this group mostly through the power of their sexuality. One character, Claudia, keeps returning to a relationship with Ares' big brother Artemis despite shockingly humiliating treatment. Here's hoping the writers give these characters more redeeming qualities in the promised next sequel.
What saves the proceedings is the stunning Catalan setting. Though nighttime scenes, like in the original, are filmed with such limited lighting that they're difficult to watch on a small screen, the daytime locations on the Costa Brava memorably show off the region's natural beauty. Cinematographer Marc Miró sends his camera high above ground to capture coastal panoramas and under the clear blue waters of the sparkling Mediterranean.
Read the full review at Common Sense Media.
Images courtesy of Netflix.