'End of the Century' screening

End of the Century, the first feature from Argentine filmmaker Lucio Castro, revolves around a hookup and — at first blush — seems slight. The film finds Ocho (played by Juan Barberini) visiting Barcelona from New York, where he wanders the city alone before looking for someone to meet. He spots a man from his Airbnb balcony, jerks off in his room, sees some sights, and reads a paperback on the beach. Castro's direction and cinematographer Bernat Mestres' shooting frame the city as largely empty, a sparse landscape that feels psychologically interior, in which any human encounter acquires additional weight. In this sort of world, a chance encounter is made to feel fated, enlarged in its significance.