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San Sebastian Film Festival · 2024

San Sebastian Film Festival 2024

Pearls

Programme

17 films · 13 reviews

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All We Imagine As Light

Review preview for All We Imagine As Light

It’s fitting for a film set in the “City of Dreams” and that is concerned with life’s illusions and how we navigate them as it is about the here and now.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
Triptych explores the lives of three women in Mumbai.

(Country: France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Payal Kapadia; Writer: Payal Kapadia; Stars: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon, Azees Nedumangad, Anand Sami, Lovleen Mishra, Madhu Raja, Shweta Prajapati, Tintumol Joseph, Ardra K.S., Sisira Anil CK, Aparna Ram, Kashish Singh, Nikhil Mathew)

Full review See: Interview with Payal Kapadia about All We Imagine As Light

Anora

Review preview for Anora

What isn't untrue is that Anora is brilliant.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Sean Baker; Writer: Sean Baker; Stars: Mikey Madison, Yura Borisov, Ivy Wolk, Lindsey Normington, Karren Karagulian, Ross Brodar, Mark Eydelshteyn, Emily Weider, Alena Gurevich, Paul Weissman, Luna Sofía Miranda, Masha Zhak, Vache Tovmasyan, Charlton Lamar)

Full review

Apocalypse In The Tropics

Examination of the rise of the far right in Brazil.

(Country: Brazil, US, Denmark; Year: 2024; Director: Petra Costa, Moara Passoni; Writer: Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, David Barker, Nels Bangerter, Tina Baz, Moara Passoni; Stars: Petra Costa, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Jair Bolsonaro, Silas Malafaia, Michelle Bolsonaro, Elizete Malafaia, Oscar Niemeyer)

Bird

Review preview for Bird

Amid all the deprivation Arnold, as is her style, uncovers elements that lift the action out of the ordinary and into the realms of fantasy and magical realism.

Richard Mowe · 3.5 out of 5
12-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids and Bailey who is approaching puberty seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.

(Country: UK, US, France, Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Andrea Arnold; Writer: Andrea Arnold; Stars: Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Nykiya Adams, James Nelson-Joyce, Jasmine Jobson, Rhys Yates, Joanne Matthews, Frankie Box, Dave)

Full review See: Arnold reveals the naked truth about Bird

Emilia Perez

Review preview for Emilia Perez

Audiard has assembled a remarkable team of actors

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A lawyer gets an offer to help a cartel boss start a new life.

(Country: US, Mexico; Year: 2024; Director: Jacques Audiard; Writer: Jacques Audiard; Stars: Zoe Saldana, Selena Gomez, Edgar Ramírez, Karla Sofía Gascón, Adriana Paz, James Gerard, Shiraz Tzarfati, Agathe Bokja, Marie-Elisabeth Robert, Stéphane Ly-Cuong, Eric Geynes, Anabel Lopez, Eduardo Aladro, Line Phé, Cyrus Khodaveisi)

Full review See: Jacques Audiard and Karla Sofia Gascón on changing identity, democracy and drug cartels in Emilia Perez

I'm Still Here (Ainda estou aqui)

Review preview for I'm Still Here

This is a tactile retelling, inviting us to imagine the sticky feel of Coca-Cola on hot skin in the sun or the heat of a sheepskin coat and the love that goes with it being passed from mum to daughter ahead of a trip abroad.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Brazil, 1971: a country in the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family’s life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence.

(Country: Brazil, France, Spain; Year: 2024; Director: Walter Salles; Writer: Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega, Marcelo Rubens Paiva; Stars: Brazil, 1971: a country in the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence.)

Full review

The Marching Band (En Fanfare)

Review preview for The Marching Band

The two siblings bond and the disparate threads of their relationship prove immensely touching as they ruminate on the lost years and chances.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A conductor discovers he was adopted and has a younger sibling.

(Country: France; Year: 2024; Director: Emmanuel Courcol; Writer: Emmanuel Courcol, Irène Muscari; Stars: Benjamin Lavernhe, Pierre Lottin, Ludmila Mikaël, Jacques Bonnaffé, Sarah Suco, Nathalie Desrumaux)

Full review See: Pierre Lottin - a joker with a serious side

Marco (Marco, The Invented Truth)

Based on true events, the film explores the story of a concentration camp deportee from Spain who turned out to be fictitious.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2024; Director: Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño; Writer: Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño, Jorge Gil Munarriz, Jose Mari Goenaga; Stars: Eduard Fernández, Nathalie Poza, Sonia Almarcha, Chani Martín, Fermí Reixach, Daniela Brown, Vicente Vergara, Jordi Rico)

Maria Callas: Letters And Memoirs (Maria Callas: Lettere e memorie)

Consideration of the opera star.

(Country: France, Italy, Greece; Year: 2023; Director: Tom Volf, Yannis Dimolitsas; Writer: Tom Volf; Stars: Monica Bellucci)

Megalopolis

Review preview for Megalopolis

It is described simply as “A Fable”, but there is nothing simple about this over-ambitious allegorical sprawl.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
Power play and corruption unfold in a futuristic city.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Francis Ford Coppola; Writer: Francis Ford Coppola; Stars: Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, Nathalie Emmanuel, Shia LaBeouf, Adam Driver, Kathryn Hunter, Laurence Fishburne, Dustin Hoffman, James Remar, Jason Schwartzman, Forest Whitaker, Jon Voight, Chloe Fineman, D.B. Sweeney, Talia Shire)

Full review See: Francis Ford Coppola on Megalopolis

Memoir Of A Snail

Review preview for Memoir Of A Snail

Elliot time and again marries darkness and light, sweetness with sour to create a satisfying emotional umami.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A woman recalls the series of unfortunate events that have made up her life so far.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2024; Director: Adam Elliot; Writer: Adam Eliot; Stars: Voiced by, Sarah Snook, Jacki Weaver, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tony Armstrong, Dominique Pinon, Eric Bana, Nick Cave)

Full review See: Memoir Of A Snail director Adam Elliot on creating textured underdogs and emotional conflict

Oh Canada

Review preview for Oh Canada

Simply put, the viewer is constantly tempted to attribute the character’s old man’s ramblings both to the author of the source novel and to the filmmaker adapting it.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 2.5 out of 5
A documentary filmmaker, who is terminally ill, reflects on his life.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Paul Schrader; Writer: Paul Schrader; Stars: Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, Richard Gere, Michael Imperioli, Kristine Froseth, Penelope Mitchell, Victoria Hill, Aaron Roman Weiner, Cornelia Guest, Dylan Flashner, Gregory Connors, Ryan Woodle, John Way, Jean Brassard, Gary Hilborn)

Full review

Parthenope

Drama charts a woman's life in Naples from the Fifties onwards.

(Country: Italy, France; Year: 2024; Director: Paolo Sorrentino; Writer: Umberto Contarello, Paolo Sorrentino; Stars: Gary Oldman, Stefania Sandrelli, Luisa Ranieri, Isabella Ferrari, Silvio Orlando, Dario Aita, Alessandro Cucca, Brando Improta, Paola Calliari, Celeste Dalla Porta, Peppe Lanzetta, Giampiero De Concilio, Biagio Izzo, Nello Mascia, Lorenzo Gleijeses)

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig

Review preview for The Seed Of The Sacred Fig

Grittily compelling

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Investigating judge Iman grapples with paranoia amid political unrest in Tehran. When his gun vanishes, he suspects his wife and daughters, imposing draconian measures that strain family ties as societal rules crumble.

(Country: France, Germany, Iran; Year: 2024; Director: Mohammad Rasoulof; Writer: Mohammad Rasoulof; Stars: Soheila Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Setareh Maleki, Mahsa Rostami, Niousha Akhshi, Reza Akhlaghirad, Shiva Ordooie, Amineh Mazrouie Arani, Mohammad Kamal Alavi, Parisa Mohyedini, Barat Azimi)

Full review

The Substance

Review preview for The Substance

Brutal, bloody and enriched with a specific dark humour.

Marija Lukarevska · 4 out of 5
A fading television star tries to restore her fame with the help of a suspicious drug.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2024; Director: Coralie Fargeat; Writer: Coralie Fargeat; Stars: Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Demi Moore, Hugo Diego Garcia, Joseph Balderrama, Oscar Lesage, Gore Abrams, Olivier Raynal, Vincent Colombe, Tiffany Hofstetter, Matthew Géczy, Tom Morton, Philip Schurer, Matthew Luret, Alexandra Papoulias Barton)

Full review

A Traveler's Needs (Yeohaengjaui pilyo)

Review preview for A Traveler's Needs

Huppert's lines feel stiff from the get-go, predicting a vague narrative limited by a purposefully strange dialogue.

Sergiu Inizian · 2 out of 5
Iris, a wandering woman teaching French to Koreans, navigates her life with few concerns.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2024; Director: Hong Sang-soo; Writer: Hong Sang-soo; Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Kwon Hae-hyo, Hye-young Lee, Ha Seong-guk, Yunhee Cho)

Full review

The Wild Robot

Review preview for The Wild Robot

The film mines a lot of clichés but manages to do something a little different with them, blending traditional elements of children’s fiction with a distinctly 21st Century sensibility.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A robot designed to assist humans finds herself stranded on an island populated only by animals.

(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Chris Sanders; Writer: Chris Sanders; Stars: Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pasca, Catherine O'Hara, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill)

Full review