Sidewalls 2006

In the sprawling urban tapestry of Buenos Aires, Martín and Mariana are strangers living in neighboring one-room “shoebox” apartments. Martín works as a web designer and takes up photography as a way to cope with his fear of the city, while [Mariana] is an aspiring architect who is forced to move back into her old place after a breakup. Their lives unfold in parallel, quiet and solitary, as they watch the city’s ever-changing skyline and wrestle with waves of anxiety, loneliness, and a growing sense that genuine human connection is increasingly mediated by screens.

A Short Autumn

The story starts with a string of alarming street accidents that prompt small acts of kindness from both of them. A prostitute’s dog leaps from a balcony, sending a passerby into danger—yet Martín and Mariana pause to help in their own ways. Martín faces a medical diagnosis of a harmless discarthrosis and finds solace in caring for his ex-girlfriend’s dog, whom he has kept after she moves to the United States. Mariana, working as a window dresser, finds herself talking to the store mannequins she assembles at home. In a quiet moment, she reopens an old Where’s Wally? book and discovers a page she has never managed to solve, a small symbol of the mysteries she carries. She also reflects on the end of her four-year relationship, choosing to ignore a call from her ex as she contemplates what comes next in her life.

A Long Winter

As winter settles in, Martín and Mariana drift through the city without quite meeting. Martín spends much of his life online, ordering a new desk chair and hiring a dogwalker named Ana, whom he begins to date, only to discover that Ana is already involved with someone else and eventually ghosts him. Mariana agrees to a date with a client, Lucas, at a restaurant perched at the top of a tall skyscraper. Her phobia of elevators leads her to take the stairs, much to Lucas’s dismay; while he waits at their table, she is suddenly overcome by anxiety and leaves. Later, she finds Martín’s old office chair on the curb and brings it home, then deletes all her pictures of her ex from her laptop. The story of the Kavanagh Building—soaring, iconic, and symbolic—drifts into her thoughts, and she is drawn to the music from a neighbor’s piano. Martín experiments with online dating and meets Marcela, a manic polyglot, but the date ends in disappointment. He also begins swimming at Mariana’s local pool, where he meets Rafa. They go on a date, and Mariana responds with kindness when Rafa experiences erectile dysfunction, but he ends up ghosting her.

Spring at Last

With spring, a sense of fragile renewal arrives. Mariana contemplates the city’s unremarkable exterior “sidewalls” and, seeking change, undergoes a lip piercing. Both of them install new windows in their apartments, and they unknowingly look out at one another while a radio plays the poignant song “True Love Will Find You in the End,” a moment that moves them to tears as they watch a rerun of Manhattan on television. One evening, they connect in an Internet chat room by chance; just as Mariana asks for Martín’s phone number, a citywide blackout plunges the streets into darkness. They each buy candles at the same shop, share a stray moment of connection in the dim light, and part ways. Later, Mariana spots Martín walking his dog in a red-and-white striped sweater reminiscent of Where’s Wally, a small, playful sign that their paths might finally cross. She pushes past her elevator fear and rushes outdoors, where they finally meet in person. As the closing credits roll, a YouTube video shows the couple lip-syncing to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” hinting at a future they now share—together, in a city that finally feels within reach.