San Sebastian Film Festival | Little White Lies

San Sebastian Film Festival

Young person standing in a cluttered bookshop, looking pensive.
Festivals

On Falling – first-look review

by David Jenkins

The dire lot of a low paid factory worker is the subject of this rigorous if hardly revelatory character study from debut director Laura Carreira.
Man in suit applying makeup to white garment with red floral pattern.
Festivals

Afternoons of Solitude – first-look review

by David Jenkins

Albert Serra’s extraordinary, intense portrait of toreador Andrés Roca Rey is one of the Spanish director’s finest works to date.
Two elderly women walking along a gravel path through an autumnal woodland, carrying baskets.
Festivals

When Fall Is Coming – first-look review

by David Jenkins

This lightweight Chabrolian country drama from François Ozon sees an elderly retiree with a complex past trying to do right by her family.
A person sleeping peacefully in a dimly lit bedroom, surrounded by a wooden headboard and delicate floral branches.
Festivals

Emmanuelle – first-look review

by Rafa Sales Ross

Audrey Diwan’s take on the infamous erotic French novel is a chilly, bemusing affair that lacks for a sense of real purpose.
Two people, a man and a woman, together in a lush, green forest.
Festivals

The Serpent’s Path – first-look review

by David Jenkins

Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s third film of 2024 is a French-language remake of his own 1998 feature about a grim, cyclical revenge mission.
Two adults, a man and a woman, sitting closely at a table in a dimly lit restaurant.
Festivals

I Am Nevenka – first-look review

by David Jenkins

Icíar Bollaín’s tabloidy but worthwhile #MeToo drama tells of a victim of sexual abuse within Spain’s local political scene.
Couple embracing on hillside overlooking rural landscape.
Festivals

Un Amor – first-look review

by David Jenkins

This steamy and giddily uneven rural romance from Spanish filmmaker Isabel Coixet is almost saved by Laia Costa’s committed central performance.
A man applying face paint, looking intently in a mirror. His face is partially covered in bright red paint.
Festivals

Kalak – first-look review

by David Jenkins

This Greenland-set drama from Danish director Isabella Eklöf, about a husband and father dealing with the trauma of abuse, makes for oppressively grim and only occasionally revelatory viewing.
Three people, two men and one woman, walking together on a path in a green, wooded area.
Festivals

A Silence – first-look review

by David Jenkins

Reliable Belgian director Joachim Lafosse serves up more lurid scandal sheet fodder in this dismal tale of a wife and mother trying to sweep her husband’s vile transgressions under the rug.
Three suited men, one older with glasses, sitting in the back of a car.
Festivals

Ex-Husbands – first-look review

by David Jenkins

Amiable American comedy of dented male egos in which Griffin Dunne’s recent divorcee accidentally crashes his son’s bachelor party.
Cosy domestic scene with a person lying on a sofa in a living room with bookshelves and potted plants.
Festivals

MMXX – first-look review

by David Jenkins

The latest from Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu comprises four salty slices of pandemic-era life which range from the outwardly comic to the overtly grizzly.
A smiling person in a car, their eyes closed and head tilted back.
Festivals

Something You Said Last Night – first-look review

by Marina Ashioti

Luis De Filippis’ film is a great addition to a transgender cinematic canon in that it refuses to rely on overt explorations of trauma.