Juanma Carrillo | Andamio (Scaffolding) / 2012

getting to know the neighbor

by Douglas Messerli

 

Juanma Carrillo (screenwriter and director) Andamio (Scaffolding) / 2012 [14 minutes]

 

Generally, those of us who live in highrise apartments look out from windows to the world around us, rarely do we look to the side of our very next door neighbor. In the high rise at the center of Spanish director Juanma Carrillo’s film, scaffolding is suddenly erected around its entire perimeter of the building where live Eduardo (Paco Blázquez) and David (Domingo Fernández). For six months their views are suddenly removed and they have little choice but look within and askance.

    Now suddenly as Eduardo, a rather cranky publicist comes out to his balcony covered in green plastic, the only thing he can see is his neighbor David, a rather shy literary student who, as opposed to Eduardo’s complaints against the landlady and the owners, attempts to get a little sun on the space between the plastic and the doorway, and imagines that he can see the beautiful sea and even hear its waves.

     Eduardo gently mocks such a poetic viewpoint with the observation, “What luxury,” but he does also introduce himself.

   Eduardo already has a name for his neighbor: “bookworm,” since he’s always reading, David commenting that Eduardo is always smoking. Eduardo, however, replies that he can give it up, while David suggests he would never want to abandon his major activity. Eduardo, however, says that, of course, he will have to when he finishes it; but David merely reminds him that he will read another, and even offers to loan him his book. And this slight war of words, does begin to bring them together.

    Before long they are playing cards on their shared balconies, drinking wine, and truly getting to know each other.

   And then one evening, As Eduardo enters his balcony to water his plants, he notices that no one is home next door, there is no sign of David. And soon after, the scaffolding begins to be torn down.

    The next morning Eduardo takes a phone call on his now very sunny balcony, explaining to the caller that they are taking down the scaffolding and that he couldn’t be happier, promising to be in the office right away. But as he turns to go, he also notices a copy of the book David has promised to loan him, producing a smile on his face.

     As Eduardo returns home in the evening, he calls up to David, who explains he had been visiting his family for a few days. Eduardo thanks him for the book. And now we see, as David quickly fixes his hair, that there is something between them; a relationship that might or might not become sexual has transpired. Eduardo seems less fussy and critical and David far less bookish and shy.

    When Eduardo does finally appear he again expresses his delight that scaffolding has come down, while explains that he rather liked it.   

     He goes on to explain that if nothing else it really helped the two of them. For months they had lived next door with nary even a hello when they passed on the stairway. “I think it’s been good for us.”

     Eduardo is not at all sure of what David is suggesting, describing it as “extreme,” but it does clearly make him think. For a moment he leaves the balcony, David wondering if his forwardness has perhaps lost him his new friend. But almost immediately Eduardo reappears, turns, smiles and welcomes him with the words: “Come in.”

     This lovely little comedy adds depth to a career that has included such earlier films as Cannibals, Wall, and Fuckbuddies. His feature directorial debut, Un efecto óptico (An Optical Effect), premiered in 2020. Sadly, Carrillo died in August 2024 at the early age of 46.

 

Los Angeles, February 28, 2026

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (February 2026).