The story of Something Is About to Happen
When a steamy encounter with a new neighbor ends abruptly—the man simply disappears—Lucia finds herself unmoored. She's tasted something she didn't know she was missing: genuine desire, real connection, intellectual spark. Rather than let it go, she takes a job as a cab driver, thinking she'll spot him among the passengers, maybe engineer a reunion. But that's where the film's real premise kicks in. As Lucia opens herself up to her riders—engaging them in conversations that veer from the mundane to the deeply personal—she starts to realize something darker is unfolding. The strangers in her backseat aren't random. They're watching her. Testing her. And she may have already become the target of a scheme far more sinister than a simple love story gone wrong. It's a premise that sits somewhere between psychological thriller and erotic drama, never quite settling into either lane.
Behind the making of Something Is About to Happen
Director Antonio Méndez Esparza co-wrote the screenplay with Clara Roquet, adapting Juan José Millás' novel for the screen—a literary source that carries real weight in Spanish letters. Millás is known for his intricate, sometimes unsettling explorations of human connection, and that sensibility translates here. The film's 123-minute runtime allows room for the kind of slow-burn tension that doesn't work in shorter formats; Esparza isn't rushing the audience toward answers. The cast brings significant pedigree. Malena Alterio, a Spanish television and film veteran, carries the film with a performance that requires her to be simultaneously vulnerable and calculating—no small feat. Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, another heavyweight of Spanish cinema, anchors the supporting ensemble alongside Rodrigo Poisón, José Luis Torrijo, and others. The Spain-Romania co-production setup suggests a level of European art-house ambition that doesn't always translate to mainstream attention, but the film's festival circuit performance—it won 6 awards and earned 6 nominations—indicates that Esparza's vision found its audience in certain circles. On Movie OTT, you can track where this title streams across regions, as availability shifts regularly.
What makes Something Is About to Happen stand out
Here's where things get interesting. The film sits at a fascinating critical crossroads: Rotten Tomatoes gives it a perfect 100% Fresh rating, yet the IMDb audience score sits at 5.9/10 from nearly 1,800 votes. That's not a small gap—that's a chasm. What's striking is that this tells you something real about the film's nature. Critics, especially those primed to read thematic layers and narrative ambition, seem to have found something worth defending. Audiences expecting a more conventional thriller may have felt stranded by its pacing and ambiguity. Alterio's performance is the film's anchor. She doesn't play Lucia as a victim or a seductress in any straightforward sense; instead, she inhabits a woman in genuine transition, someone using sexuality and vulnerability as tools for connection but also, perhaps, as weapons. The film doesn't judge her for this—it observes her with a kind of anthropological precision that's rare in genre work. There's a scene early on where Lucia accepts a ride from a stranger and the conversation shifts from small talk to confession almost without either party noticing; that's the film's strength, that ability to let tension build through dialogue rather than jump scares or manufactured plot twists. The thing that lingers, though, is the film's refusal to give you a tidy answer about who's hunting whom. Is Lucia the predator or the prey? The answer might be: yes.
How to stream Something Is About to Happen online
If you're ready to watch, the film is currently available on Stan, the Australian streaming platform that's been expanding its international film slate in recent years. Stan's library leans heavily into indie and art-house cinema, which makes it a natural home for a film like this—one that doesn't fit neatly into commercial categories. The Where to Watch widget at the top of this page will show you the current availability across all platforms in your region, since streaming rights shift frequently and vary by geography. Movie OTT tracks these changes in real time, so if you're hunting for where this title lives right now, that widget's your best bet. The 123-minute runtime means you're committing to a full evening, but the film doesn't waste that time—every conversation, every glance between Lucia and her passengers, carries weight.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is Something Is About to Happen based on a book?
Yes. The film is adapted from a novel by Juan José Millás, a celebrated Spanish author known for psychological depth and narrative complexity. Screenwriters Antonio Méndez Esparza and Clara Roquet translated that literary sensibility into film.
Q: Who stars in Something Is About to Happen?
Malena Alterio leads the film as Lucia, with Aitana Sánchez-Gijón in a key supporting role. The ensemble includes Rodrigo Poisón, José Luis Torrijo, Manuel de Blas, Mariona Ribas, and Iñigo de la Iglesia.
Q: Where can I watch Something Is About to Happen?
The film is currently streaming on Stan. Check the Where to Watch widget on this page for the most up-to-date platform availability in your region, as streaming rights vary by geography.
Q: Why do critics and audiences disagree so much on this film?
The 100% Rotten Tomatoes score versus the 5.9/10 IMDb rating suggests the film appeals strongly to critics who appreciate ambiguous narratives and slow-burn tension, while general audiences may find it frustratingly vague or slow-paced. It's a film that rewards patience and interpretation.
Q: What genre is Something Is About to Happen?
It's primarily a thriller with erotic and psychological elements, though it resists easy categorization. Expect tension built through dialogue and character rather than conventional genre mechanics.
Final thoughts on Something Is About to Happen
Something Is About to Happen isn't a film for everyone, and it doesn't pretend to be. What it is, though, is genuinely strange and uncompromising—a rare thing in contemporary cinema. It trusts you to sit with ambiguity, to question who's really in control, and to find eroticism in conversation as much as in physicality. If you're the kind of viewer who gravitates toward European art films, who doesn't need every question answered, who can tolerate a slow burn in service of psychological complexity, then this is worth your time. Just don't expect comfort. The title itself is a warning: something is about to happen. The film never quite tells you what, or to whom. That's either a feature or a bug, depending on what you want from cinema.
