Writer/director Agusti Vila's debut feature is a gentle meditation on the themes of love and loss. Juan (Alex Brendemühl) splits up with his long-term girlfriend, claiming that they don't communicate any more. Determined to find a new love amongst the crowds of Barcelona he decides to provoke chance by waiting in the same place each day until he meets the girl of his dreams. Splitting his afternoons between the park and a bar, he knows that it's only a matter of time until his presence makes something happen.

Explicitly citing Eric Rohmer's conversation-heavy films as an influence (one character offhandedly mentions "The Green Ray") "A Bench in the Park" is a deceptively simple tale about the difference between destiny and chance. In his search for the woman he was meant to be with, Juan encounters a city full of cautious, unlucky lovers much like himself. But while Juan is unwilling to take any risks, the girls he meets are brave enough to throw themselves back into the fray, fully aware that you have to give a little to gain a lot.

For all its intelligent intentions, "A Bench in the Park" remains curiously uninvolving. Vila tries to keep our attention with bold editing, but like his hero, fails to convert the film's ripe possibilities into realities. Consequently, the nicely ironic touches become swamped by Juan's doggedly morose hero and the end result is a film that's about as lively as spending an hour and a half on a bench... in a park... in the rain.

"A Bench in the Park" is showing at the NFT.