San Sebastián Film Festival: A Review

San Sebastián Film Festival is the feisty younger sibling on the European film festival docket. 

You all know the media frenzy of Cannes and Venice. But later in the fall, there’s a festival in the rainy north of Spain that packs just a big a punch. When big stars like Angelina Jolie and Juliette Binoche showed up for the red carpet, the idyllic Basque Country city turned into a madhouse. And the slate of films has some of the most anticipated releases this year. 

I attended the first week of the festival, where I went to five screenings as well as attended press conferences for Claire Denis’s “The Fence” and Alice Winocour’s “Couture,” which stars Jolie. 

Jolie made headlines at her film’s press conference when asked, “What do you fear as an artist and as an American?” The actress sighed and took a pregnant pause before answering the question. “I love my country, but at this time I don’t recognize my country,” she said. “I’ve always lived internationally, my family is international, my friends, my life. My worldview is equal, united, and international. Anything anywhere that divides or limits personal expressions and freedoms from anyone, I think, is very dangerous. These are such serious times that we have to be careful not to say things casually. These are very, very heavy times we are living in together.” Her comments came during the suspension of late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel, which has been at the center of the conversation of government censorship in the entertainment industry. 

She also opened up about her late mother’s continuing presence in her life and acting, revealing she wore her necklace and her ashes in the film. In 2007, Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died of breast cancer. Jolie’s character, Maxine, too, is diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. Jolie has been public about her family history of cancer and her own double mastectomy as a preventative measure. Earlier this year at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Jolie tearfully reminisced on how her mother would write letters to her characters. And if Bertrand were to write a letter to the protagonist of “Couture”? Jolie mused, “I think she would have told Maxine to live every day and focus on life.”

Aside from the press conference, I had a busy weekend watching films. Five in total! Here is a quick synopsis and review of each film. 

“Urchin”

This is Harris Dickinson’s debut gesture. Yes, the same 29-year-old Harris Dickinson, the actor. He shows maturity and heart behind the camera of his tale of a street urchin. Frank Dillane plays Mike, a ne’er-do-well who’s in and out of prison and on and off the streets. He gives a fantastic, realistic performance that evokes that of David Thewlis in Mike Leigh’s “Naked.” The strong lead performance and commitment to realism aside, the film is a little underwhelming and “seen it before,” as well as contains some truly misguided surreal sequences. Nonetheless, it’s a promising rookie effort. 

“Varn”

A Swedish farmer builds a redoubt. That’s about it. It’s a simple movie of a man in the 1950s fortifying his home in preparation for a Cold War gone hot. We spend much of the film watching him go to painstaking lengths to construct his barricade. He’s a one-man construction crew. And there’s only one man for the job – Denis Lavant. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Lavant in the role. A trained dancer, the Lilliputian French actor is known for the physicality of his acting, in the style of silent film stars like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, and his acting hero, French mime Marcel Merceau. The film is slow and experimental, certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. But whoever you are, you can’t help but be mesmerized by Lavant in this. 

“Couture”

Angelina Jolie plays a B-movie director tasked with shooting a promo with an upstart model from South Sudan during Paris fashion week. The film eschews the cattiness and glam drama one has grown used to with fashion films. It focuses on three women – a makeup artist, a model, and a director – and how their personal lives infiltrate their art. Jolie stole the show with her performance in this deeply personal film. But the other performances and storylines were not terribly compelling. I put this as my least favorite entry I saw at the festival.

“La Grazia”

Now, on to my favorite film of the weekend. I’m partial. I love Paolo Sorrentino and was looking forward to his latest effort. He directed “The Hand of God,” “The Great Beauty,” and the HBO series “The Young Pope.” His newest film follows a fictional Italian president as he grapples with the decision whether to pardon two cases that come across his desk. It’s a meditation on aging and forgiveness, and their relationship to one another, done in a funny, fast-paced Sorrentino style. It’s not his best work, but a welcome return to form after a few years since a Sorrentino banger. 

“O Agente Secreto”

Wagner Moura plays a secret agent, the film’s English namesake. No, he’s not a James Bond-esque spy. Rather, he is forced to live a secret life under the military junta in Brazil of the 1970s. The film mixed gallows humor, pulpy violence, and spirited political grievances to varying degrees of success. There are some standout scenes and some that don’t work, adding up to an overlong and uneven film. But the hype was strong with this one. Moura won the best actor prize at Cannes earlier in the year, and the film received near-universal rave reviews. I guess I was one of the few not raving.