For the first time, the cycle guided by Luis Alegre centers on a film released on streaming platforms, Tomorrow is Today, which recently premiered on Amazon Prime Video. To introduce the project, Alegre is joined by Carmen Machi, the leading light of the comedy, with Nacho G. Velilla directing and Juanjo Javierre composing the score.
In the minutes before the colloquium, Machi explained that she prefers to participate as a viewer to discuss her latest movie. “I watched it again with my family a few days ago and I laughed a lot, even though the premise was upsetting at times,” she said. In Tomorrow is Today, Pilar (Carmen Machi) travels to the future with her husband Pepe Gaspar (Javier Gutiérrez) after he disappears in an electric storm at sea in the 1990s. When they return, they encounter a very changed, modern world where their daughter Lucía (Carla Díaz) is thirty years older because she ran away from home with her boyfriend during the storm. “Joyful You don’t think you’re watching a movie, you believe it,” Machi notes. She also recalled that this comedy helped her gain insight into her own family dynamics when she was younger, a realization she shared with her family as she watched the film.
Across its scenes, Tomorrow is Today stands apart as a comedy unlike anything Nacho G. Velilla has previously offered, featuring Carmen Machi who has played a central role in many of his projects since their collaboration on Siete Vidas more than two decades ago. “The approach Velilla brings is the same in spirit, a sensitive man who always aims to spark emotion with humor. Yet Tomorrow Is Today traverses a broader emotional spectrum, making it stand out among his films,” Machi explained, adding in a playful tone that the script might even drift a little off course.
To drive this whirlwind of feelings, Velilla crafted a film that marks Amazon’s first Spanish original. It blends genres by dipping into science fiction and fantasy to achieve what many considered a difficult objective: to captivate audiences with laughter from the very first line of the script. The project nods to the past with a wink to the 1990s pop culture and even to Aragón, a nod that Velilla shows proudly. In this sense, the movie is not only entertainment but an affectionate tribute that resonates beyond its comedic surface.
Compatible consumption patterns
The project is brought to life with music by Juanjo Javierre, another Aragón native. He notes that the film’s features make creating the soundtrack a more accessible process than ever before. “I connect with everyone, with parents who have children around that age, and with my own daughter, because I did the math and realized that 1991 mirrors moments in our lives,” he said in support of the score.
Regarding changes in how audiences consume content, Machi emphasized the need to ask viewers what they want. She added that streaming platforms should not replace cinemas but rather complement them. The audience should decide how to enjoy stories, and the industry should respond to that choice rather than dictate it.
The next session of La Buena Estrella, number 222, takes place this Wednesday from 7 pm to discuss As Bestas with its director Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Zaragoza-born screenwriter Isabel Peña, continuing the broader conversation about contemporary Spanish cinema and its evolving distribution patterns.