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San Sebastian Film Festival · 2013

San Sebastian Film Festival 2013

Pearls

Programme

16 films · 11 reviews

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9 Month Stretch (9 Mois Ferme)

Review preview for 9 Month Stretch

You can do nothing but sit in a haze of expectation, waiting for the fun to ferment, which it does

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
The lady judge is guilty of sexual discrepancy but what has the most hated criminal in France got to do with it?

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: Albert Dupontel; Writer: Albert Dupontel, Hector Cabello Reyes, Olivier Demangel; Stars: Sandrine Kiberlain, Albert Dupontel, Philippe Uchan, Nicolas Marié, Bouli Lanners, Gilles Gaston-Dreyfus, Philippe Duquesne, Michel Fau, Christian Hecq, Christine Garrivet)

Full review

About Time

Review preview for About Time

This is complete hand-waving trash - he's an ignorant, privileged cocky arsehole and good things happen to him. Pass the sick bucket.

Scott Macdonald · 1 out of 5
A young man who discovers he can travel in time decides to use it to try and get a girlfriend.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Richard Curtis; Writer: Richard Curtis; Stars: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Cordery, Joshua McGuire, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Will Merrick, Vanessa Kirby, Tom Hughes, Clemmie Dugdale, Harry Hadden-Paton, Mitchell Mullen)

Full review

Child's Pose (Pozitia Copilului)

Review preview for Child's Pose

In some ways she may be a monster, but Netzer and co-writer Radulescu find a path for Cornelia that steers clear of outright condemnation. Her tragic devotion to her son is so absolute that she retains our pity.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
An upper class woman loses all sight of morality as she strives to save her son from a prison sentence for knocking down an killing a child.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2013; Director: Calin Peter Netzer; Writer: Razvan Radulescu, Calin Peter Netzer; Stars: Luminita Gheorghiu, Bogdan Dumitrache, Florin Zamfirescu)

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

Dallas Buyers Club (Dallas Buyers' Club)

Review preview for Dallas Buyers Club

McConaughey's performance is a tour de force.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
When a fast-living heterosexual redneck develops AIDS, he refuses to take it lying down, and in his struggle makes some unlikely friends.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Jean-Marc Vallée; Writer: Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack; Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Steve Zahn, Dallas Roberts, Kevin Rankin, Denis O'Hare, Juliet Reeves, Griffin Dunne, Jane McNeill, Steffie Grote, Jeanine Hill, Lily Virginia Filson, James DuMont, Jency Griffin)

Full review

The Face Of Love

Five years after losing the love of her life, Nikki falls head over heels for a new beau: Tom is the man of her dreams, an attractive art teacher with a big heart, a friendly smile and heaps of energy.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Arie Posin; Writer: Matthew McDuffie, Arie Posin; Stars: Robin Williams, Ed Harris, Annette Bening, Amy Brenneman, Jess Weixler, Linda Park, Kim Farris, Deana Molle', Jeffrey Vincent Parise, Leah Shaw, Chelsea O'Connor, Yuki Bird, Nathan Clarkson, Christopher Haskell, Susana Rodriguez)

Fruitvale Station

Review preview for Fruitvale Station

The film takes an even-handed view of its main protagonist, illustrating faults on both sides of the divide.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
The true story of Oscar Grant, who set out one day to try and bcome a better person and ended up in a shocking encounter at Fruitvale station.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Ryan Coogler; Writer: Ryan Coogler; Stars: Michael B Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray, Ahna O'Reilly, Ariana Neal, Keenan Coogler, Trestin George, Joey Oglesby, Michael James, Marjorie Crump-Shears, Destiny Ekwueme, Bianca Rodriguez III, Julian Keyes)

Full review

Gravity

Review preview for Gravity

Alfonso Cuaron's film comes with a powerful force of its own - one which drags you towards the edge of your seat, forces your nails down into the cinema arm rests and sucks the breath out of you.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2013; Director: Alfonso Cuarón; Writer: Alfonso Cuarón, Jonás Cuarón; Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Eric Michels, Basher Savage)

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

Like Father, Like Son (Soshite Chichi Ni Naru)

Review preview for Like Father, Like Son

Shuttling back and forth between the families, Like Father, Like Son scrutinises words, deeds, allegiances.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
When he discovers his baby boy was accidentally swapped with another at birth, whom he has raised and loved, a wealthy businessman must decide which one he truly feels is his son.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2013; Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Stars: Masaharu Fukuyama, Yôko Maki, Jun Kunimura)

Full review See: Interview with Hirokazu Kore-eda about Like Father, Like Son , San Sebastian diary: Futbolin, Enemy The Zero Theorem and Like Father, Like Son

Love Is The Perfect Crime (L'amour est un crime parfait)

A professor forms a realtionship with one of his student's mothers after her daughter disappears

(Year: 2013; Director: Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu; Stars: Mathieu Amalric, Maïwenn, Karin Viard)

The Missing Picture (L'Image Manquante)

The director uses animation to present a dispassionate portrayal of the horrific experiences his own family suffered under Pol Pot’s regime.

(Country: Cambodia, France; Year: 2013; Director: Rithy Panh)

Narco Cultura

An examination of Mexican drug cartels’ influence in pop culture on both sides of the border as experienced by an LA narcocorrido singer dreaming of stardom and a Juarez crime scene investigator on the front line of Mexico’s Drug War.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Shaul Schwarz)

A Touch Of Sin (Tian Zhu Ding)

Four characters represent different areas of China and different strata of contemporary society.

(Country: China; Year: 2013; Director: Jia Zhangke)

The Wind Rises

Review preview for The Wind Rises

Miyazaki's films linger for a long time, they can't be pinned down, their meaning won't dissolve on the horizon.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Hayao Miyazaki brings together the engineer Jiro Horikoshi and the author Tatsuo Hori in a fictional epic tale of love.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2013; Director: Hayao Miyazaki; Writer: Hayao Miyazaki; Stars: Hideaki Anno, Mirai Shida, Jun Kunimura, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Miori Takimoto, Mansai Nomura, Steve Alpert, Masahiko Nishimura, Shinobu Ôtake, Morio Kazama, Keiko Takeshita)

Full review

Young & Beautiful (Jeune et jolie, Jeune & Jolie)

Review preview for Young & Beautiful

Keeps holding out a promise of insight into its young protagonist's mentality and makeup, but ends up merely observing her from a cool distance, as if through the binoculars from the opening scene.

Anton Bitel · 3 out of 5
Portrait of a 17-year-old, who sells her body for cash.

(Country: France; Year: 2013; Director: François Ozon; Writer: François Ozon; Stars: Marine Vacth, Géraldine Palhas, Frédéric Pierrot, Fantan Ravat, Johan Leysen, Charlotte Rampling, Nathalie Richard, Djedje Apali, Lucas Prisor, Laurent Delbecque, Jeanne Ruff )

Full review

The Zero Theorem

Review preview for The Zero Theorem

The Zero Theorem is a messy mélange of broad pratfalls, challenged idealism, dark satire, and expansive, indeed cosmic allegory - but it also .cannot escape being seen as a kind of Brazil vers. 2.0.

Anton Bitel · 3.5 out of 5
A reclusive computer genius, plagued with existential angst, works on a mysterious project aimed at discovering the meaning of life.

(Country: UK, Romania; Year: 2013; Director: Terry Gilliam; Writer: Pat Rushin; Stars: Christoph Waltz, Matt Damon, Mélanie Thierry, David Thewlis, Lucas Hedges, Ben Whishaw, Tilda Swinton, Peter Stormare, Dana Rogoz, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Emil Hostina, Naomi Everson, Tudor Istodor, George Remes, Olivia Nita)

Full review See: San Sebastian diary: Futbolin, Enemy The Zero Theorem and Like Father, Like Son