The predestination of the Flores surname

Flowers for Antonio assonant rhyme with another recent documentary, Yerai Cortés' flamenco guitarBoth films revolve around an artist born into Gypsy culture who decides to use non-fiction filmmaking to investigate and unravel the web of secrets and lies surrounding his parents. In the case of actress Alba Flores, specifically, she uses the camera (sometimes in front of her, sometimes operating it herself) as an organizing and revealing tool: despite the abundance of archival footage of her father, Antonio, the son of Lola Flores and Antonio González. The Little FishIt's not easy to get a clear picture of exactly who he was.

The documentary, more conventional than what Isaki Lacuesta usually delivers, but certainly effective and moving, delves into this nebulous world surrounding Lolita and Rosario's middle brother. Beyond the portrait based on his bohemian character, dangerous addictions, and celebrity friendships (Joaquín Sabina, Ariel Rot, Antonio Carmona, and others appear in the film), this is a film about managing a family artistic legacy that can become a curse: the Flores surname generated expectations that its bearers could carry. And this applies to both Antonio and Alba Flores, about whom everyone wonders why she never wanted to dedicate herself to music and stopped singing at the age of eight, after her father's death. In the end, both are characters who, in more dramatic or more oblique ways, flee from their destiny.