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San Sebastian Film Festival · 2019

San Sebastian Film Festival 2019

Pearls

Programme

18 films · 13 reviews

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Alice And The Mayor (Alice et le Maire)

The mayor of Lyon, Paul Théraneau, is in a delicate position. After 30 years in politics, he is running out of ideas... his solution is to hire a new employee, who has very different ideas to his own.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Nicolas Pariser; Writer: Nicolas Pariser; Stars: Fabrice Luchini, Anaïs Demoustier, Nora Hamzawi, Léonie Simaga, Antoine Reinartz, Maud Wyler, Alexandre Steiger, Pascal Rénéric, Thomas Rortais, Thomas Chabrol, Gwenaëlle Simon, Sébastien Autret, Fabrice Luchini, Anaïs Demoustier, Nora Hamzawi)

Amazing Grace

Review preview for Amazing Grace

One doesn't need to be religious to find something ineffable not just in the music itself but in the way it is expressed.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Concert film about the recording of Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace album.

(Country: US; Year: 2018; Director: Sydney Pollack; Stars: Reverand James Cleveland, Aretha Franklin, C.L. Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Bernard Pretty Purdie, Chuck Rainey, Clara Ward, Mick Jagger, Sydney Pollack, Charlie Watts, Reverand James Cleveland, Aretha Franklin, C.L. Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Bernard Pretty Purdie)

Full review

Beanpole (Dylda)

Review preview for Beanpole

The evocation of 1945 Leningrad is brilliantly captured with crumbling buildings and over-crowed trams but too often the dramatic set pieces fail to register

Richard Mowe · 2.5 out of 5
Two young women search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins of Leningrad after the Second World War.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2019; Director: Kantemir Balagov; Writer: Kantemir Balagov; Stars: Viktoria Miroshnichenko, Vasilisa Perelygina, Timofey Glazkov, Andrei Bykov)

Full review

The Climb

Review preview for The Climb

The acutely caught observational humour is what gives The Climb its motor.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A look at the friendship between two guys that spans many years.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Michael Angelo Covino; Writer: Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin; Stars: Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, Zina Wilde, Talia Balsam, Gayle Rankin, George Wendt, Judith Godrèche)

Full review

Ema

Review preview for Ema

Di Girolamo has a compelling intensity in the role but it's still hard to believe that everyone would fall quite so hard and fast for Ema's devil may care charms and unpredictability, especially with so much on the line.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A dancer and her choreographer husband find themselves trying to stop their lives falling apart after an adoption goes awry.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2019; Director: Pablo Larraín; Writer: Guillermo Calderón, Alejandro Moreno; Stars: Santiago Cabrera, Gael García Bernal, Giannina Fruttero, Mariana Di Girolamo, Mariana Loyola, Antonia Giesen, Eduardo Paxeco, Catalina Saavedra, Paola Giannini, Josefina Fiebelkorn, Paula Hofmann, Susana Hidalgo, Paula Luchsinger, Santiago Cabrera, Gael García Bernal)

Full review

Fire Will Come (O Que Arde)

Review preview for Fire Will Come

In terms of basic plotting, there might not seem to be much here, but emotions crackle beneath the surface and the mood burns deep.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A convicted arsonist returns to his rural home.

(Country: Spain, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2019; Director: Oliver Laxe; Writer: Santiago Fillol, Oliver Laxe; Stars: Santiago Fillol, Oliver Laxe)

Full review

The Laundromat

Thriller about the Panama Papers scandal.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Steven Soderbergh; Writer: Jake Bernstein, Scott Z Burns; Stars: Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Melissa Rauch, Sharon Stone, James Cromwell, David Schwimmer, Alex Pettyfer, Matthias Schoenaerts, Robert Patrick, Will Forte, Chris Parnell, Jeffrey Wright, Nonso Anozie, Rosalind Chao)

The Lighthouse

Review preview for The Lighthouse

The trouble with all this mood, is that it eventually gets laid on too thick.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A tale of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2019; Director: Robert Eggers; Writer: Max Eggers, Robert Eggers; Stars: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe, Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe)

Full review

Light Of My Life

In a post-apocalyptic world a father is determined to protect his child at all costs.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Casey Affleck; Writer: Casey Affleck; Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Casey Affleck, Anna Pniowsky, Tom Bower, Timothy Webber, Hrothgar Mathews, Lloyd Cunningham, Kory Grim, Patrick Keating, Jesse James Pierce, Monk Serrell Freed, Tommy Clarke, Sydnee Parker Anderson, Elisabeth Moss, Casey Affleck)

See: Anna Pniowsky in conversation on Casey Affleck, the script. storytelling and the haircut for Light Of My Life

Les Misérables

Review preview for Les Misérables

Ly wanted the people who have lived in these schemes to have the chance to tell their own stories, which gives Les Misérables an unerring sense of authenticity.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A man joins an anti-crime brigade and rapidly discovers the tensions between the various neighbourhood groups.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Ladj Ly; Writer: Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini, Alexis Menenti; Stars: Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djibril Zonga)

Full review See: Interview with Djebril Zonga, Alexis Manenti and Damien Bonnard about Les Misérables

Parasite

Review preview for Parasite

Bong Joon Ho's tale of two families explores the wealth gap in South Korean society with wit, insight and a pitch black sense of humour.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2019; Director: Bong Joon Ho; Writer: Bong Joon Ho, Jin-won Han; Stars: Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Cho, Woo-sik Choi, So-dam Park, Lee Jeong-eun, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myeong-hoon, Ji-so Jung, Hyun-jun Jung, Keun-rok Park, Yi-Seo Jung, Jae-myeong Jo, Ik-han Jung, Kyu-baek Kim)

Full review

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (Portrait De La Jeune Fille En Feu)

Review preview for Portrait Of A Lady On Fire

What could have been a traditionally lavish costume drama has been pared down to highlight the erotic tension and sensuality

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
On an isolated island in Bretagne at the end of the 18th century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Céline Sciamma; Writer: Céline Sciamma; Stars: Valeria Golino, Adèle Haenel, Noémie Merlant, Luàna Bajrami, Cécile Morel)

Full review See: Interview with Noémie Merlant about Portrait Of A Lady On Fire and Jumbo

Sorry We Missed You

Review preview for Sorry We Missed You

A narrative that hits your emotional solar plexus with the raw power of the performances and the deceptive simplicity of the story.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A hard-up delivery driver and his wife struggle to get by in modern-day England.

(Country: UK, France, Belgium; Year: 2019; Director: Ken Loach; Writer: Paul Laverty; Stars: Kris Hitchen, Debbie Honeywood, Rhys Stone, Katie Proctor)

Full review

So Long, My Son

Family saga set against the period that followed the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

(Country: China; Year: 2019; Director: Xiaoshuai Wang; Writer: Mei Ah, Xiaoshuai Wang; Stars: Liya Ai, Jiang Du, Zhao-Yan Guo-Zhang, Jingjing Li, Xi Qi, Jingchun Wang, Roy Wang, Cheng Xu, Mei Yong, Liya Ai, Jiang Du, Zhao-Yan Guo-Zhang, Jingjing Li, Xi Qi, Jingchun Wang)

The Specials (Hors Normes)

For twenty years, Bruno and Malik have lived in a different world — the world of autistic children and teens. In charge of two separate nonprofit organizations (The Hatch & The Shelter), they train young people from underprivileged areas to be caregivers for extreme cases.

(Country: France; Year: 2019; Director: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano; Writer: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano; Stars: Vincent Cassel, Reda Kateb, Aloïse Sauvage, Mirabela Vian, Vincent Cassel, Reda Kateb, Aloïse Sauvage, Mirabela Vian)

The Truth (La Verite)

Review preview for The Truth

In less sensitive hands than Kore-eda's, it could have come across as cloyingly introverted but instead there is wit and warmth in the observed relationship between the two women.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A reunion between a French cinema star and her daughter descends into confrontation.

(Country: France, Japan; Year: 2019; Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda; Writer: Hirokazu Kore-eda, Léa Le Dimna; Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke, Clémentine Grenier, Manon Clavel, Jackie Berroyer, Ludivigne Sagnier.)

Full review See: Juliette Binoche on working with Catherine Deneuve on The Truth , Venice Film Festival report - The Truth, Only The Animals, Joker and more

Waiting For The Barbarians

Review preview for Waiting For The Barbarians

Rylance is superb throughout in a role perfectly suited to his talents.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A magistrate in a colonial town suffers a crisis of conscience about the regime he works for.

(Country: Italy, US; Year: 2019; Director: Ciro Guerra; Writer: Ciro Guerra, based on the novel by JM Coetzee; Stars: Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, Greta Scacchi, Sam Reid, Harry Melling, Mark Rylance, David Dencik, Bill Milner, David Moorst, Gana Bayarsaikhan, Joseph Long, Clem So, Wil Coban, Faical Elkihel, Nayef Rashed)

Full review

Weathering With You (Tenki No Ko)

Review preview for Weathering With You

This is one of the most beautiful animated films of the year.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A boy falls in love with a girl who can control the weather.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2019; Director: Makoto Shinkai; Writer: Makoto Shinkai; Stars: Kotaro Daigo, Nana Mori, Chieko Baishô, Kana Hanazawa, Sei Hiraizumi, Tsubasa Honda, Kana Ichinose, Yûki Kaji, Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Ryohei Kimura, Sakura Kiryu, Ryô Narita, Shun Oguri, Ayane Sakura)

Full review