Anonymously Yours, or Anónima, is a feel-good romantic movie directed by Maria Torres. The film has a runtime of 1 hour 40 minutes. The audio of the film is originally in Spanish. However, the viewer also can choose to select English audio and subtitles for Anonymously Yours. The official synopsis on Netflix reads: “After an accidental text message turns into a digital friendship, Vale and Alex start crushing on each other without realizing they’ve met in real life”. The film stars Harold Azuara, Annie Cabello, Estefi Merelles and others in various roles.
At first glance, Anonymously Yours appears to be very predictable. It is how one imagines every quirky pre-teen or teen romance to be. We are introduced to Vale (played by Annie Cabello) just as soon as the film begins. With the help of a voiceover, she helps the viewers get a sneak peek into her life. However, even the sneak peek turns out to be quite, well, predictable. She is the only daughter of a set of parents who loved watching films. As things progressed, she became obsessed with filming everything in her vicinity– even the daily mundane things.
– Anonymously Yours review contains mild spoilers –
Her parents, as you might have guessed, were opposed to this. They did not like their daughter going around everywhere with a camera in her hands. They consulted a therapist. They made her try out various other activities, but nothing worked out. The predictability hits the fan when we stumble upon the “my parents do not get me” trope. She wants to be a filmmaker but her parents want her to take over the family business. Oh lest we forget another quite cliched addition, her best friend and her best friend’s brother are super popular whereas she, is well, not.
Alex (played by Harold Azuara) is a studious scholarship student who also is quite wonderful at sports. The multi-talented underdog, if you may. He is bullied by everyone in his team and school but keeps his calm. Academics is his only weapon. His late dad had always asked him to keep his calm and Alex tries to abide by him as best as he can. He is the Nerd.
Vale, on the other hand, is your typical high school art student. This film often feels like a parody of every teen romance ever made. It is a concoction of tropes like spilling coffees, detentions, “ my parents just think this a phase”, and every other cliche that you can come up with.
Alex and Vale accidentally stumble upon each other online. On social media, they are a perfect match. They share music and an intimate connection. Offline, it is hell. They are stuck in detention together, and they cannot stand each other. It feels like the director has tried bringing in too many narratives into one film. The supporting characters feel quite bland and forced. As the film proceeds, we see the development between Alex and Vale, both online and offline. They grow closer. Anonymously Yours, in the end, is a feel-good movie and it ends exactly as all teen romance movies do.
Summing Up, Anonymously Yours
Anonymously Yours is a collection of all the classic Hollywood teen romance tropes that we grew up watching. It has best friends, prom, parents who “do not get” you, quirky teachers and a high school romance. If you want to take a break and not think for a while, then this film is for you. It is a colourful watch and might distract you for an hour. However, if you want something real and touching, then this film is not for you.
Anonymously Yours is now streaming on Netflix.
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