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San Sebastian Film Festival · 2022

San Sebastian Film Festival 2022

Official Selection

Programme

21 films · 11 reviews

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Cork (Suro)

Review preview for Cork

Although Gurrea’s film is booby trapped for explosions, he repeatedly chooses the more interesting slow-burn path.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Helena and Ivan decide to make a new life for themselves among cork trees, but their different points of view on how to live on the land surface, challenging their future as a couple.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Mikel Gurrea; Writer: Mikel Gurrea, Francisco Kosterlitz; Stars: Vicky Luengo, Pol López, Ilyass El Ouahdani)

Full review

Forever (Resten Af Livet)

Review preview for Forever

The seemingly warm family idyll becomes a cage in the face of the communication deficiencies between the characters.

Mateusz Tarwacki · 4 out of 5
A family struggle to come to terms with the death of an adult son.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2022; Director: Frelle Petersen; Writer: Frelle Petersen; Stars: Jette Søndergaard, Mette Munk Plum, Ole Sørensen, Eskil Tonnesen, Ole Caspersen, Benny Bøtchiær Thomsen, Lasse Lorenzen)

Full review

Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures

Review preview for Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures

In places, dark humour seeps into the film like the rot around the hotel windows.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Film based on the true stories of Portuguese migrants who travel to Great Yarmouth, pre-Brexit, to work in turkey factories.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2022; Director: Marco Martins; Writer: Ricardo Adolfo, Marco Martins; Stars: Nuno Lopes, Kris Hitchen, Beatriz Batarda, Peter Caulfield, Achilles Fuzier, Hugo Bentes, Celia Williams, Rita Cabaço, Romeu Runa)

Full review

A Hundred Flowers (Hyakka)

Review preview for A Hundred Flowers

The past intrudes on the present in flashback, and though the moves between the periods are worked smoothly enough, the film feels torn between showing one perspective and the other while struggling to marry the two.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A son grapples with his feelings of hurt about an episode from the past as his mother succumbs to dementia.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2022; Director: Genki Kawamura; Writer: Genki Kawamura, Hirase Kentaro; Stars: Masami Nagasawa, Masaki Suda, Mieko Harada, Masatoshi Nagase)

Full review

Il Boemo

Review preview for Il Boemo

In less adept hands this could have become a clash of content but Václav keeps all his elements in balance, managing to celebrate the beauty of opera on the one hand while showing us uglier mini dramas playing out at the front and back of house.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Biopic of composer Josef Mysliveček.

(Country: Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia; Year: 2022; Director: Petr Václav; Writer: Petr Václav; Stars: Vojtech Dyk, Karel Roden, Lino Musella, Barbara Ronchi, Lenka Vlasáková, Martina Babisova, Salvatore Langella, Lana Vlady, Zdenek Godla, Cristiano Donati, Diego Pagotto, Philippe Jaroussky, Philip Amadeus Hahn, Emöke Baráth, Raffaella Milanesi)

Full review

The Kings Of The World (Los Reyos Del Mundo)

Review preview for The Kings Of The World

The use of a bike that is simultaneously broken and enhanced is a perfect encapsulation of the idea of things being caught between two states in the film.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Five street kids set out on a journey to the promised land.

(Country: Colombia, Luxembourg, France, Mexico, Norway; Year: 2022; Director: Laura Mora Ortega; Writer: Maria Camila Arias, Laura Mora Ortega)

Full review

Marlowe

The gumshoe is tasked with finding the former lover of a beautiful heiress.

(Country: US, Ireland; Year: 2022; Director: Neil Jordan; Writer: William Monahan, John Banville, Raymond Chandler; Stars: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Alan Cumming, Jessica Lange, Danny Huston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ian Hart, François Arnaud, Daniela Melchior, Colm Meaney, Darrell D'Silva, Patrick Muldoon, Kim DeLonghi, Stella Stocker, Mitchell Mullen)

Closing night film. Out of competition

La Maternal

Review preview for La Maternal

Nothing in Palermo’s film is sugar-coated, although a sweetness runs through it.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Drama about a teenager who becomes unexpectedly pregnant and is sent to a centre to live with other expectant youngsters.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Pilar Palomero; Writer: Pilar Palomero; Stars: Rubén Martínez, Ángela Cervantes, Olga Hueso, Pepe Lorente, Neus Pàmies, Carla Quílez, Gal·la Sabaté, Jordan Dumes)

Full review

Offworld (Apagon)

A solar storm hits the Earth, causing a widespread blackout. In this new reality, five stories unfold, focusing on characters who struggle to adapt to a world without electricity, telecommunications or means of transport, where they are forced to face up to their most primal needs, instincts and fears.

(Country: US; Director: Rodrigo Sorogoyen , Raúl Arévalo , Isa Campo , Alberto Rodríguez , Isaki Lacuesta)

Out of competition

Prison 77 (Modelo 77)

Review preview for Prison 77

Whereas most prison films focus on strife, it’s the gradually developing friendship which forms the bedrock of the film.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Modelo Prison. Barcelona, 1977. A young accountant awaiting trial for embezzlement, joins forces with his cellmate and a collective fighting for the rights of ordinary prisoners.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Alberto Rodríguez; Writer: Rafael Cobos, Alberto Rodríguez; Stars: Iñigo Aranburu, Javier Beltrán, Carlos Bernardino, Polo Camino, José Gabriel Campos, Jesús Carroza, Víctor Castilla, Víctor Castillo, Iñigo de la Iglesia, Javier Gutiérrez, Miguel Herrán, Javier Lago, Alfonso Lara, Daniel Mantero, Ana Cecilia Mendes)

Full review See: Q&A with Alberto Rodriguez about Prison 77

Opening night film. Out of competition

The Rite Of Spring (La Consagracion de la Primavera)

Laura has just arrived in Madrid to study at University. One night, she accidentally meets David, who has cerebral palsy. The relationship with the boy and his mother will give Laura the push she needs to overcome her complexes and insecurities and confidently enter a new phase.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Fernando Franco; Writer: Bego Arostegui, Fernando Franco; Stars: Telmo Irureta, Valèria Sorolla, Emma Suárez)

Runner

After the sudden death of her father, Haas meets Will. Runner is the story of two young strangers finding each other across the vast American landscape.

(Country: US; Year: 2022; Director: Marian Mathias; Stars: Jonathan Erickson Eisley)

Sparta

A man in his 40s leaves his girlfriend, he moves to the hinterland. With young boys from the area, he transforms a decaying school into a fortress. The children enjoy a new, carefree existence. But the distrust of the villagers is soon awoken.

(Country: Austria, Germany, France; Year: 2022; Director: Ulrich Seidl; Writer: Veronika Franz, Ulrich Seidl; Stars: Georg Friedrich)

The Substitute (El Suplente)

Review preview for The Substitute

It’s Lerman’s shooting style which makes the biggest impression.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A professor tries to help a student who is being hounded by drug traffickers.

(Country: Argentina, Italy, France, Spain, Mexico; Year: 2022; Director: Diego Lerman; Writer: Diego Lerman, María Meira, Luciana De Mello; Stars: Juan Minujín, Alfredo Castro, Bárbara Lennie, Rita Cortese, María Merlino)

Full review See: Interview with Diego Lerman about The Substitute (El Suplente)

Tax Me If You Can (La (Tres) Grande Evasion)

Welcome to the world of capital flight! The key to amassing a huge fortune? Find accomplices, know how to hide and take advantage of every loophole in the system. Investigative doc.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Yannick Kergoat)

Walk Up

A middle-aged film director and the daughter he hasn't seen in years visit a building owned by an interior designer... but something unusual happens during the tour.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2022; Director: Hong Sang-soo; Stars: Kwon Haehyo, Lee Hyeyoung, Mi-so Park)

Wild Flowers (Girasoles Silvestres)

A mum falls in love with a troubled young man but begins to question their relationship.

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2022; Director: Jaime Rosales; Writer: Bárbara Díez, Jaime Rosales; Stars: Anna Castillo, Oriol Pla, Quim Àvila, Lluís Marquès, Carolina Yuste, Manolo Solo)

Winter Boy (La Lyceen)

Review preview for Winter Boy

Young star Paul Kircher puts in an impressively sensitive and emotionally raw peformance.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Set over the course of one winter, a 17-year-old high school student struggles with grief.

(Country: France; Year: 2022; Director: Christophe Honoré; Writer: Christophe Honoré; Stars: Paul Kircher, Vincent Lacoste, Juliette Binoche, Erwan Kepoa Falé, Christophe Honoré, Xavier Giannoli, Wilfried Capet, Jean-Philippe Salerio, Isabelle Thevenoux)

Full review See: Christophe Honoré and his young star Paul Kircher talk about Winter Boy , Vincent Lacoste on grief, working with Honoré and his hopes for the future in Winter Boy

The Wonder

Review preview for The Wonder

Pugh's performance, which dovetails nicely with newcomer Cassidy’s devout determination as Anna, can’t quite overcome the uneven plotting and, at times, flimsy characterisation.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
The Irish Midlands, 1862. A young girl stops eating but remains miraculously alive and well. English nurse Lib Wright is brought to a tiny village to observe eleven-year old Anna O'Donnell. Tourists and pilgrims mass to witness the girl who is said to have survived without food for months.

(Country: US, UK, Ireland; Year: 2022; Director: Sebastián Lelio; Writer: Alice Birch, Emma Donoghue, Sebastián Lelio; Stars: Florence Pugh, Kíla Lord Cassidy, Elaine Cassidy, Tom Burke, Ciarán Hinds, Niamh Algar, Toby Jones)

Full review

The Yellow Ceiling (El Sostre Groc)

In 2018, a group of nine women filed a complaint against two of their teachers at Lleida’s Theatre School for sexual abuse carried out between 2001 and 2008. Although the statute of limitations had passed, unexpectedly, all was not lost.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2022; Director: Isabel Coixet; Stars: Vanessa Springora, Violeta Porta, Aida Flix, Albert Llimós, Goretti Narcís, Miriam Fuentes, Marta Pachón, Núria Juanico)

Special Screening