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San Sebastian Film Festival · 2013

San Sebastian Film Festival 2013

Official Selection

Films in competition for the Golden and Silver Shell.

Programme

17 films · 11 reviews

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Bad Hair (Pelo Malo)

Junior is a 9 year-old with "bad hair". His efforts to smooth it down for the school picture incur the wrath of his mother Marta. His grandfather suggests that the boy stay with him on a permanent basis. He doesn't care if he's effeminate; he only wants to secure someone to look after him in his old age. Marta refuses and sets out to "re-educate" her son. Junior wants to live with his mother and for her to love him.

(Country: Venezuela; Year: 2013; Director: Mariana Rondón; Writer: Mariana Rondón; Stars: Beto Benites, Samantha Castillo, Nelly Ramos, María Emilia Sulbarán)

Cannibal (Caníbal)

Review preview for Cannibal

Worth seeing for its gripping central performances and Cuenca's impressive camerawork - signposting better films from him to come - even though the story lacks killer instinct.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A serial killer finds himself falliing for a potential victim.

(Country: Spain, Romania, Russia, France; Year: 2013; Director: Manuel Martín Cuenca; Writer: Rafael de la Uz, Alejandro Hernández; Stars: Antonio de la Torre, María Alfonsa Rosso, Joaquín Núñez, Olimpia Melinte, Gregory Brossard)

Full review

Club Sandwich

Review preview for Club Sandwich

As Hector, Lucio Gimenez Cacho embodies the three primary desires of any teenage boy: getting one's way, getting one's end away, and potato chips.

Andrew Robertson · 3.5 out of 5
A teenage boy experiences first love while holidaying with his mother.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2013; Director: Fernando Eimbcke; Writer: Fernando Eimbcke; Stars: Lucio Giménez Cacho, María Renée Prudencio, Danae Reynaud)

Full review

Devil's Knot

Review preview for Devil's Knot

An involving mystery which, alongside its immediate concerns, asks questions about human nature and the inherent mystery of mortality.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Drama based on the 1993 West Memphis Three murders.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Atom Egoyan; Writer: Paul Harris Boardman, Scott Derrickson, based on the book by Mara Leveritt; Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Colin Firth, Alessandro Nivola, James Hamrick, Kristopher Higgins, Seth Meriwether, Bruce Greenwood, Rex Linn, Robert Baker, Katie Kneeland, Elias Koteas, Dane DeHaan, Amy Ryan )

Full review

Enemy

Review preview for Enemy

Villeneuve knows how to stoke the tension so that benign moments become first unsettling and then downright creepy.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Adam leads a monotonous life until he discovers Anthony, a small-time actor physically identical to him.

(Country: Canada, Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Denis Villeneuve; Writer: Javier Gullón, José Saramago; Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Isabella Rossellini, Sarah Gadon, Stephen R. Hart, Jane Moffat, Joshua Peace, Tim Post, Kiran Friesen, Laurie Murdoch, Loretta Yu, Darryl Dinn, Alexis Uiga)

Full review See: Keeping score: Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurrians talk about Last Days In The Desert, Enemy and Wolfpack , San Sebastian diary: Futbolin, Enemy The Zero Theorem and Like Father, Like Son

For Those Who Can Tell No Tales

Review preview for For Those Who Can Tell No Tales

While there is no doubting the admirable intentions of Vercoe's idea, the end result feels far too focused on her response to what happened than on the more universal impact of the events themselves.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
An Australian tourist finds a trip to Bosnia changes her life forever.

(Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina; Year: 2013; Director: Jasmila Žbanić; Writer: Zoran Solomun, Kym Vercoe, Jasmila Zbanic; Stars: Kym Vercoe, Branko Cvejic, Jasna Djuricic, Boris Isakovic, Damir Kustura, Leon Lucev, Simon McBurney, Sasa Orucevic, Pamela Rabe)

Full review

Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed (Vivir Es fácil Con Los Ojos Cerrados)

An unexpected friendship develops between an English teacher who travels to Almería when he hears John Lennon is making a film, a 16-year-old boy who has run away from home and a young girl who also seems to be running away from something...

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: David Trueba; Writer: David Trueba; Stars: Javier Cámara, Ariadna Gil, Jorge Sanz, Francesc Colomer, Ramon Fontserè, Natalia de Molina)

October November (Oktober November)

A woman returns to the town that her sister has never left, sparking conflict.

(Country: Austria; Year: 2013; Director: Götz Spielmann; Writer: Götz Spielmann; Stars: Sebastian Koch, Andreas Ressl, Peter Simonischek, Ursula Strauss, Nora von Waldstätten, Johannes Zeiler)

One Of A Kind (Mon âme par toi guérie, My Soul Healed By You)

When Frédi loses his mother, he realises she has passed her healing gift on to him. Frédi rejects it, tangled up in his own unhappiness, until a fatal accident changes everything.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: François Dupeyron; Writer: François Dupeyron; Stars: Grégory Gadebois, Céline Sallette, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Marie Payen, Nathalie Boutefeu, Agathe Dronne, Yvonne Gradelet, Philippe Rebbot)

Prisoners

Review preview for Prisoners

Prisoners, surprisingly for a film that lasts 153 minutes, holds you captive for the entire runtime.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A man whose daughter disappears, takes matters into his own hands.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Denis Villeneuve; Writer: Aaron Guzikowski; Stars: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano)

Full review See: Press conference interview with Hugh Jackman

Special screening. Out of competition

Quai d'Orsay (The French Minister)

A political satire revolving around Alexandre Tallard de Vorms, Minister of Foreign Affairs for France, a man who calls on the powerful and invokes the mighty to bring peace, to calm the trigger-happy, and to cement his aura of Nobel Peace Prize winner-in-waiting.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Bertrand Tavernier; Writer: Christophe Blain, Abel Lanzac; Stars: Thierry Lhermitte, Joséphine de La Baume, Jane Birkin, Niels Arestrup, Anaïs Demoustier, Raphaël Personnaz, Alix Poisson, Julie Gayet, Sonia Rolland, Thomas Chabrol, Thierry Frémont, Didier Bezace, Yvonne Gradelet, Loïc Risser, Bruno Raffaelli)

The Railway Man

Review preview for The Railway Man

It is a story of courage, redemption and forgiveness. And it's true

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
The true story of Eric Lomax, a victim of the Second World War's "Death Railway", who later in life sets out to find the Japanese soldier responsible.

(Country: Australia, UK; Year: 2013; Director: Jonathan Teplitzky; Writer: Frank Cottrell Boyce, Andy Paterson, based on Eric Lomax's autobiography; Stars: Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Jeremy Irvine, Hiroyuki Sanada, Stellan Skarsgård, Sam Reid)

Full review

T.S. Spivet (L'extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S. Spivet, The Young And Prodigious T. S. Spivet)

Review preview for T.S. Spivet

The film becomes a road trip, avoiding many of the usual booby traps, although not all.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
A young scientist secretly leaves his family's ranch to travel across the country to receive a prize.

(Country: France, Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet; Writer: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Reif Larsen, Guillaume Laurant; Stars: Kyle Catlett, Helena Bonham Carter, Robert Maillet, Judy Davis, Callum Keith Rennie, Julian Richings, Niamh Wilson, Dominique Pinon, Jakob Davies, Rebecca Amzallag, Amber Goldfarb, Catherine Lemieux, Dylan Kingwell, Lisa Bronwyn Moore, Dawn Ford)

Full review See: Interview with Jean-Pierre Jeunet about TS Spivet

Closing gala.

The Unbeatables (Metegol, Futbolin, Foosball)

Review preview for The Unbeatables

As the story ball is passed from one set of characters to the next, you sense the dexterity without being distracted by it, while the messages about being a team player and winning by fair means not foul underpins the action without getting in the way.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A man goes on an adventure with the characters on his table football game.

(Country: Argentina, Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Juan José Campanella; Writer: Juan José Campanella, Roberto Fontanarrosa, Gastón Gorali, Eduardo Sacheri; Stars: Juan José Campanella, Diego Ramos, Pablo Rago, Axel Kuschevatzky, Lucía Maciel, David Masajnik, Marcos Mundstock, Diego Mesaglío, Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Fabián Gianola, Horacio Fontova, Federico Cecere, Sebastián Mogordoy, Mariana Otero, Roberto Kim)

Full review See: Juan José Campanella interview about The Secret In Their Eyes (El Secreto De Sus Ojos)

Opening gala. Out of competition

Witching And Bitching (Las Brujas De Zugarramurdi)

Review preview for Witching And Bitching

A messy but highly enjoyable romp that takes a sideswipe at modern Spanish attitudes and the country's economic turmoil.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
When three men go on the run after a heist goes bad, they run into a coven of witches.

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2013; Director: Álex de la Iglesia; Writer: Jorge Guerricaechevarría, Álex de la Iglesia; Stars: Hugo Silva, Mario Casas, Carmen Maura, Gabriel Delgado, Carlos Areces, Carolina Bang, Macarena Gómez, Pepón Nieto, Secun de la Rosa, María Barranco, Jaime Ordóñez, Enrique Villén, Terele Pávez, Beatriz Urzáiz, Julián Valcárcel-Carbonell)

Full review See: London Spanish Film Festival preview

Wounded (La Herida)

Though good at her job, Ana has problems relating in her personal life. She doesn't know it, but she suffers from a condition known by psychiatrists as Borderline Personality Disorder. The situation pushes her to outbreaks of self-destructive behaviour, alcohol abuse and self-harm. Ana is incapable of getting what she wants most: to be happy.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Fernando Franco; Writer: Fernando Franco, Enric Rufas; Stars: Andrés Gertrúdix, Marian Álvarez, Manolo Solo, Luis Callejo, Ramón Barea, Rosana Pastor, Ramón Agirre, Nagore Aramburu)

Le Week-End

Review preview for Le Week-End

Likely to strike the strongest chord with couples who understand there's a double meaning to enduring love.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A couple take a make or break trip to Paris.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Roger Michell; Writer: Hanif Kureishi; Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan, Olly Alexander, Xavier De Guillebon, Brice Beaugier, Sébastien Siroux, Marie-France Alvarez, Charlotte Léo, Denis Sebbah, Lee Breton Michelsen)

Full review See: Roger Michell and Hanif Kureishi talk about Le Week-End , San Sebastian diary: Child's Pose, Le Week-End, Gravity and Hanif Kureishi