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San Sebastian Film Festival · 2021

San Sebastian Film Festival 2021

Pearls

Programme

17 films · 13 reviews

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Are You Lonesome Tonight?

A young man who believes he has caused a fatal accident develops an ambiguous relationship with the dead man's widow.

(Country: China; Year: 2021; Director: Wen Shipei; Writer: Noé Dodson, Wang Yinuo , WenShipei , Zhao Binghao; Stars: Eddie Peng, Sylvia Chang, Wang Yanhui , Jiang Peiyao)

Benedetta

Review preview for Benedetta

The interplay of the spiritual and the sensual is vital here.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A 17th-century nun in Italy suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions. She is assisted by a companion, and the relationship between the two women develops into a romantic love affair.

(Country: France, Netherlands; Year: 2021; Director: Paul Verhoeven; Writer: David Birke and Paul Verhoeven, based on he book by Judoth C Brown; Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Lambert Wilson, Virginie Efira, Daphne Patakia, Olivier Rabourdin)

Full review See: Benedetta director Paul Verhoeven on religion, nudity and sexuality in Benedetta

Between Two Worlds (Ouistreham)

Review preview for Between Two Worlds

Binoche gives her all, stripping away any vestiges of actressy pretence to assimilate herself in the community while at the same time investing her performance with an authentic conviction.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Marianne Winckler, a well-known author, goes to live in northern France to research for her new book on the subject of job insecurity. Without revealing her true identity, she gets hired as a cleaner, working with a group of other women.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Emmanuel Carrère; Writer: Florence Aubenas, Emmanuel Carrère, Hélène Devynck; Stars: Juliette Binoche)

Full review See: Juliette Binoche on Between Two Worlds

The Crusade

Abel and Marianne discover that their 13-year-old son Joseph has secretly sold their most precious possessions. They soon find out that Joseph is not the only one - all over the world, hundreds of children have joined forces to finance a mysterious project. Their mission is to save the planet.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Louis Garrel; Writer: Jean-Claude Carrière, Louis Garrel; Stars: Laetitia Casta, Joseph Engel, Louis Garrel, Ilinka Lony, Julia Boème, Lionel Dray, Clémence Jeanguillaume, Lazare Minoungou, Farid Bouzenad, Basilis Athanassiadis, Patrice Trohel, Oumy Bruni Garrel, Gloria Deparis, Emiliano Laurenti, Mathieu Maricau)

Drive My Car (Doraibu Mai Kâ)

Review preview for Drive My Car

Slow to build and with an assembly of characters who are all more complex than they seem on the surface, Drive My Car exemplifies Japan’s growing body of literary cinema.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Nishijima Hidetoshi as a stage actor and director happily married to his playwright wife. Then one day the wife disappears.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi; Writer: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and takamasa Oe, based on the book by Haruki Murakami; Stars: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Masaki Okada, Reika Kirishima, Tôko Miura)

Full review

Everything Went Fine (Tout S'est Bien Passé)

Review preview for Everything Went Fine

François Ozon makes what could have been an impossibly painful subject more palatable but nonetheless affecting.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A father asks for help to die.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: François Ozon; Writer: François Ozon, based on the book by Emmanuèle Bernheim; Stars: Sophie Marceau, Charlotte Rampling, Hanna Schygulla, André Dussollier)

Full review

The French Dispatch

Review preview for The French Dispatch

It all has a very particular flavour. Even a new one.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th Century French city that brings to life a collection of stories published in the French Dispatch magazine.

(Country: Germany, US; Year: 2021; Director: Wes Anderson; Writer: Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola, Hugh Guinness; Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Elisabeth Moss, Frances McDormand, Saoirse Ronan, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Benicio Del Toro, Christoph Waltz, Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray)

Full review

Jane By Charlotte (Jane par Charlotte)

Review preview for Jane By Charlotte

The closer and more personal this documentary gets, the more it opens up to the largest of issues.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
The director's portrait of her mother.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Charlotte Gainsbourg; Stars: Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg)

Full review

Lost Illusions

A poet finds his opinion of the world and himself challenged after he moves from the provinces to Paris.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Xavier Giannoli; Writer: Xavier Giannoli, based on the novel by Honoré de Balzac; Stars: Benjamin Voisin, Cécile de France, Vincent Lacoste, Xavier Dolan, Salomé Dewaels, Jeanne Balibar, Gérard Depardieu, André Marcon, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Jean-François Stévenin, Alexis Barbosa, Marie Cornillon, Saïd Amadis, Morgane de Vargas, Raphaël Magnabosco)

Petite Maman

Review preview for Petite Maman

The autumn setting fits it perfectly, because although this is the change of the year as things die back for winter, it is also blazing with colour and hopefulness.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
Something magical happens to a young girl after the death of her grandma.

(Country: France; Year: 2021; Director: Céline Sciamma; Writer: Céline Sciamma; Stars: Gabrielle Sanz, Joséphine Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, Margot Abascal,)

Full review

The Power Of The Dog

Review preview for The Power Of The Dog

Campion treats the material with such well-mannered reverence that you begin to wish that not just the characters, but she too, would loosen up a bit.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A widow and her son are tormented by her new husband’s sullen and bullying brother.

(Country: UK, Australia, US, Canada, New Zealand; Year: 2021; Director: Jane Campion; Writer: Jane Campion, Thomas Savage; Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirsten Dunst, Thomasin McKenzie, Keith Carradine, Frances Conroy,)

Full review

The Rezort

Trouble brews on a zombie safari.

(Country: Spain, UK, Belgium; Year: 2015; Director: Steve Barker; Writer: Paul Gerstenberger; Stars: Dougray Scott, Jessica De Gouw, Martin McCann, Bentley Kalu, Jassa Ahluwalia, Sam Douglas, Claire Goose, Shane Zaza, Jamie Ward, Elen Rhys, Richard Laing, Sean Power, Robert Firth, Patrick Holland, Derek Siow)

Red Rocket

Review preview for Red Rocket

The grooming of Strawberry may have some moments of levity but that, in many ways, makes it all the more uncomfortable.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A washed-up ex-porn star tries to get his life back together in his hometown, sparking trouble for those in his orbit.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Sean Baker; Writer: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch; Stars: Simon Rex, Suzanna Son, Bree Elrod, Brenda Deiss, Ethan Darbone)

Full review

The Restless (Les Intranquilles, De Peur qu'Il Ne Sauve)

Review preview for The Restless

Lafosse makes excellent choices with his editor Marie-Hélène Dozo (long-time collaborator of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) in what is shown on screen and what is left out for us to fill in.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
A family struggles with the father's bipolar disorder.

(Country: Belgium, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2021; Director: Joachim Lafosse; Writer: Lou Du Pontavice, Juliette Goudot, Pablo Guarise, Joachim Lafosse, Chloé Leonil, Anne-Lise Morin, François Pirot; Stars: Damien Bonnard, Leïla Bekhti, Gabriel Merz Chammah Patrick Descamps, Alexandre Gavras)

Full review

Titane

Review preview for Titane

The audience laughed at times that were not meant to be that kind of funny, a primate exhalation of surprise and relief.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
A dancer becomes pregnant after having sex with a car.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2021; Director: Julia Ducournau; Writer: Julia Ducournau; Stars: Vincent Lindon, Nathalie Boyer, Dominique Frot, Anaïs Fabre)

Full review

The Velvet Underground

Review preview for The Velvet Underground

The Velvet Underground will restore your belief in documentaries!

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4 out of 5
Cinematic collage that is as much about New York of the period as it is about the rise and fall of the seminal band.

(Country: US; Year: 2021; Director: Todd Haynes; Writer: Todd Haynes; Stars: Lou Reed, John Cale, Maureen Tucker, Sterling Morrison)

Full review See: Interview with Ed Lachman about Todd Haynes, Christine Vachon, and shooting the interviews for The Velvet Underground , Ed Lachman in conversation on Songs For Drella, Lou Reed, John Cale, and The Velvet Underground

Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy (Guzen to sozo)

Review preview for Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy

The Japanese filmmaker guides his actors as if they were just learning emotions, creating an impression of awkwardness.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 4 out of 5
An unexpected love triangle, a failed honey trap and an encounter that results from a misunderstanding are the three episodes, told in three movements to depict three female characters and trace the trajectories between their choices and regrets.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2021; Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi; Writer: Ryusuke Hamaguchi; Stars: Kotone Furukawa, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Fusako Urabe)

Full review