They won’t settle scores with guns, and the story shifts from the English countryside to a damp Valencia coast. In this setup, Peter dies, and his circle of friends—portrayed by Ingrid García-Jonsson, Elena Martín, Joe Manjón, Lorena López, and Carlos Troya—come back together to confront a duel they’ve avoided for years. The collaboration of Víctor Sánchez Rodríguez and Antonio Escámez, adapted for the screen by María Ripoll, brings to life a tale based on the stage play that earned a Revelation Writer Max in 2016.
Filmed in Valencian and Spanish across Quartell, Sagunt, and Almenara beach, the project premiered at the Malaga Festival and opened its doors to audiences with We Won’t Kill Each Other With Pistols. Ripoll’s narration of a phone interview reveals a filmmaker’s pride in Valencia’s post-industrial texture blending with orchards, a landscape that mirrors the film’s mood and the characters’ inner lives.
Warmth, sweat, close-ups, and music—the opening has a distinct Spaghetti Western vibe.
It’s a film about five friends who have grown apart but return to settle unfinished business. They speak like musketeers, pushing each other toward a reckoning. The shared grief for the missing friend becomes the catalyst for duels, a narrative device that channels the Western mood into a contemporary Iberian setting.
Valencia’s unique energy lies in letting the moment hang with the Orxata Sound System after a tense day, adding a buoyant beat to the drama.
The script originally imagined a village celebration with a local orchestra, though filming demanded restraint. The Orxata Sound System’s tracks were then woven into the score to capture the generation’s voice and a distinct era that resonates with the characters.
Is translating Victor’s stage play to cinema a challenge?
When the core story is compelling and the dynamics work, the process isn’t daunting. The team brought the streets into the narrative, letting the desolation of the characters breathe through the environments. The house and festival scenes were designed to visually express the characters’ need to connect and unwind. Though Miguel and Antonio penned the initial script, there were moments when changes were proposed to expand the world, yet the aim remained to preserve the essence of the game between the players, keeping the film cinematic in spirit.
This is a generational tale, a look at those who aren’t anchored in their nostalgic age.
From a perspective outside the experience, it’s possible to identify with the sense of a shared past, where every generation holds memories, festivals, towns, and a longing to return someday.
Are the characters selfish? Not merely. They embody a generation whose dreams remained unfulfilled—careers pursued abroad, returns made, promises left behind, and the gap between expectations and reality. Those unfulfilled ambitions and the small, stubborn phrases that carry the weight of time define the cast’s temperament.
“We thought we’d conquer the earth and settled for a mound.”
The metaphor is stark. Growth has always driven each generation, yet here the characters must make do with what exists and protect what they already possess.
Friendship does endure, but rediscovering it proves tricky for five old companions.
The film centers on communication and the unspoken. If grief isn’t shared and trust isn’t rebuilt, nothing really works. A final line sums it up: “We’re stronger together because together we think better.”
Will Valencia host a third collaboration for this filmmaker, after a second project shot there?
Perhaps. A Netflix series with Jean Reno and Aura Garrido is in the works, signaling a broader horizon that could suit Valencia as a home base. The filmmaker loves shooting in the Valencia region because it offers places that feel entirely unique.
Was casting the landscapes as important as choosing the actors?
The search aimed for Sagunt’s post-industrial mood blended with orchard scenery, landscapes that mirror the characters’ desolation. Although Valencia is visually striking, its beaches aren’t as private as Sagunt or Almenara, which became essential to the film’s atmosphere.
Valencia’s offbeat charm fits the project perfectly, especially since the settings mirror the characters and the intention to present places rarely seen.