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Spain · 2017
1h 51m
Director Carlos Marques-Marcet
Starring Oona Chaplin, Natalia Tena, David Verdaguer, Geraldine Chaplin
Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
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Eva and Kat enjoy a carefree existence on their houseboat on a London canal. Until Eva's dream of becoming a mother is reignited by the death of their pet. Kat just wants to get a new cat, but when Kat's best friend, Roger, visits from Barcelona, they decide in a moment of drunkenness that he can be Eva's sperm donor. What are the consequences for the lesbian couple, the biological father, the child and their relationships with one another?
With its predictable story unlikely to leave a lasting impression, it’s left to Chaplin and Tena’s natural chemistry and performances to make Carlos Marques-Marcet’s second feature-length film worth your while. Which they do. Just.
Even if it does occasionally threaten to outstay its welcome with a 111-minute running time, the deeply engaging performances and that freeing and uninhibited Spanish flavour which Marques-Marcet brings to his English-language debut, means it’s the kind of world you really don’t mind lingering in.
L.A. Weekly by Alan Scherstuhl
Too often, viewers just have to take a movie love story’s word for it that its characters actually belong together. Not so in Carlos Marques-Marcet’s loose, observant Anchor and Hope.
For all its little issues, “Anchor and Hope” is tremendously aided by three fine performances.
Film Journal International by Anna Storm
There is nothing grand about Anchor and Hope. It is only that which is extraordinarily difficult to make: a simply well-executed film.
Los Angeles Times by Gary Goldstein
There’s a potentially smart and sexy lesbian dramedy at the heart of “Anchor and Hope” that gets lost amid idiosyncratic filmmaking and a lack of narrative discipline.
The Guardian by Leslie Felperin
It’s a thoughtful, honest and touching work, especially for women who love women, and also love canals.
The talk turns toward the tedious and the jokes, the situations and the romantic longing never draw us in. The viewer isn’t so much a part of the story as a bystander, curious and occasionally titillated, but rarely moved.
Screen International by Sarah Ward
As predictable as their tale may be, Chaplin, Tena and Verdaguer serve their characters well, with the former and latter particularly impressing with the material.
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