SAN SEBASTIAN '09: The Motherly and Elderly

With its streets hugging the coastline of two beautiful beaches and a broad river running through it, you don't have to go far for a glimpse of water in San Sebastian and, for the first part of this 57th consecutive edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival, torrential rain ensured the streets were wet, too. The Blade Runner-style weather, however, failed to wash away the enthusiasm of locals, stars, or the large number of press who descended on this picturesque city for some reel entertainment.

At just two years younger than the Berlinale, the fest feels sprightly in middle-age and offers both an opportunity for Spanish cinemagoers to enjoy the presence of Hollywood A-listers (Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt, and Sir Ian McKellen were all in town this week), and a chance for Spain and Latin America to show their wares to the rest of the world. The auditoriums include theatres majestically converted for the festival's duration—and the cavernous conference hall, the Kursaal, which has a capacity of more than 1800 seats. The large crowds don't stand on ceremony—and rarely sit through the end credits—but if the assembled throng likes your film, you'll certainly know. At the first screening of Inglourious Basterds, for example, the audience was so keyed up that they even clapped for the Universal logo and TCM introduction, while the Australian film Blessed was greeted with a five-minute standing ovation.

The festival line-up is strongly diverse, but despite the films emerging from countries as varied as Korea, Australia and Argentina, certain themes begin to emerge. There has been a recent trend to embrace world politics and war zones, but many of the films here that I've seen—around 20 at the time of writing—have a much more domesticated feel, even if they nod to wider world events. Like this year's Sundance, many directors have returned to telling more intimate stories, and arguably there is no greater intimacy than the bond between a mom and her child. That Rodrigo García's Mother and Child closed the festival seems appropriate, since examples of motherhood are abound in some of the most interesting films here.

François Ozon's Le Refuge is the pick of the bunch and sees him return to a contemplation of motherhood after his last film Ricky—but this time with no recourse to the fantastical. The plot focuses on Mousse (Isabelle Carré), whose drug-addled lifestyle is about to leave her pregnant and alone. Beginning with some shocking and disturbingly beautiful scenes of drug-taking, it morphs into an examination both of pregnancy and the nature of relationships. Those who hate the sight of needles be warned, as at the screening I attended, the film had to be stopped after someone keeled over as one character injected themselves in the neck. Carré was pregnant during the film's shoot, and Ozon makes sure we are given plenty of time to consider the changes this has brought about to her body, while also painting a psychological portrait of a woman whose life is in flux. The French director deftly avoids passing judgment on Mousse, leaving plenty of complexity from which the audience can draw their own opinions.

The conflicts of motherhood are also explored by Ana Kokkinos's Blessed, which makes a virtue of its intricate structure - that sees the action focus on a group of disparate kids in a Melbourne suburb in the first half, before switching to the perspective of their mothers in the second. Adapted from the play Who's Afraid of the Working Class?, the film initially feels as though it may still be trapped within its stage constraints, but once the kids begin their odysseys through the urban jungle, Kokkinos breathes cinematic life into the action, which though difficult and a slow-build results in a surprisingly haunting and touching climax.

If Kokkinos and Ozon don't laud or condemn the moms in their films, The Host director Bong Joon-ho has no time for such niceties. The central protagonist in Mother (Maedo) may initially seem like just another slightly over-protective mom, and with good reason, since her son is at least two sandwiches short of a picnic. But as the film progresses and he is steamrolled into a confession of murder, it seems she is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to prove his innocence. Although it descends a little too far into melodrama in the final reels, Bong's portrait of obsession is nevertheless an entertaining one, thanks largely to Kim Hye-ja—famous in her homeland for portraying mothers of a more caring, sharing nature—whose understated performance takes the edge off some of the more hyperbolic plot twists.

Kim Hye-ja is just one of a platoon of older thespians taking on key roles in films at the festival, as many of the filmmakers here explore and celebrate the process of aging. The best of these considerations—and my personal favorite of the lost—arrives in Juan Jose Campanella's The Secret of Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos). He is a director drawn to the theme of old age, as his Oscar-nominated The Son of the Bride (El Hijo de la Novia)—with its examination of a middle-aged man's mortality and his mother's Alzheimer's—amply demonstrated. When I asked him about it, he said: "I am very obsessed with old age... I was looking for a word, 'intrigued'? No, it's more than that... because I am afraid of it."

Campanella may find the passing of time scary, but when it comes to manipulating it within the body of his film, he proves to have a masterful touch. He seamlessly blends the lightness of a will-they-won't-they romance with the political grit of 1970s Argentina and a dark drama involving a woman's murder, while achieving that rare trick of taking the audience forwards and backwards through a 30-year period—without his plot sinking into the shifting sands of time. Argentine big-hitter Ricardo Darín (probably best known to English-speaking audiences for his role in Nine Queens) plays Benjamín Esposito, a retired court worker who decides to write a book about the case of a woman who was raped and murdered three decades previously, in the mid-1970s.

As he contemplates the case and the political machinations of Argentina in the period, Benjamin also reassesses his relationship with his beautiful, younger boss—a lovely performance by Soledad Villamil—and the romance they always seem to be teetering on the brink of. With its blend of humanity and humor, political comment and tension, this is a smart looking, well-acted crowd-pleaser, and I am not at all surprised to hear that it has just been selected as Argentina's candidate for the Foreign Language Oscar. It will be a strong contender.

Also taking comfort in old age and fine performances is Aaron Schneider's Get Low, which recently sold to Sony Pictures Classics at the Toronto Film Festival. It features Robert Duvall as Felix, a hermit-like "old man of the woods" who has earned himself an almost murderous reputation with the local Tennessee residents. Fearing he may not have long to walk the planet, he decides it is time to reveal the secret behind his seclusion, and sets about organizing his own funeral party, which he plans to attend. Although its denouement is a little predictable, this is a very accomplished debut. Duvall is magnetic as Felix, while Bill Murray turns in a bittersweetly comic turn as the local funeral director, and Sissy Spacek looks as ethereal as ever as Felix's former friend. Schneider has spent almost two decades as a cinematographer, a talent he brings to bear here, to produce a lovely evocative look.

As the festival drew to a close on Saturday, the award winners were announced. That they were spread across several titles is a testimony to the generally strong field of competitors, especially as some of the fests on the circuit this year have had a distinctly lackluster feel. The Chinese film The City of Life and Death—which has been garnering critical buzz all week—won the coveted Golden Shell for best film, and picked up the cinematography award thanks to Cao Yu's black-and-white camerawork. The hard-hitting film concerns itself with the "Rape of Nanjing" as told from the shifting perspectives of the Chinese and Japanese.

Both the Silver Shells for best acting were given to the Spanish film Yo, También (Me, Too)—which examines the difficulties faced by a Down's syndrome man attempting to woo a woman without the disability—while Spaniard Javier Rebollo picked up the Silver Shell for best directing for his contemplative study of a house wife La Mujer Sin Piano.

I was pleased to see Ozon's Le Refuge take home a special jury prize, Blessed pick up the Silver Shell for best screenplay (penned by Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves, Patricia Cornelius and Christos Tsiolkas) and Sammen (Together) garner a special mention in the New Directors category. It came as something of a surprise, however, that The Secret of Their Eyes was overlooked—although prizes surely await it elsewhere.

The top gong for the Kutxa-New Director Award went to Belgian director Philippe Van Leeuw for The Day God Walked Away (Le Jour Où Dieu Est Parti En Voyage), which recounts the first day of the Rwandan genocide through the eyes of a Tsutsi nanny who finds herself abandoned. Meanwhile, cinemagoers across the world continue to warm to Lee Daniels' Precious—about the tribulations and triumphs of an abused obese girl in Harlem—which notched up another award in the audience vote.

The most touching award moment, however, happened earlier in the week, when veteran British actor Sir Ian McKellen picked up the Donostia gong for a lifetime of achievement that has seen him take on roles as diverse as Gandalf and Richard III. Receiving the award in a Basque beret, he was clearly moved by the overwhelming reception he received.

Smiling broadly, McKellen said: "I don't know about you, but I think actors get far too much attention, they get far too much praise, and they have far too many photographs taken of them—because actors really are just one in the team. That's why I'm not too fond of these prizes for acting. How can you compare one film's performance with another? You can't. We are not in competition with each other.

"But this award is different. It is not just for one performance but for many. It's for 50 years of acting, a whole career—almost a lifetime. Some actors act hoping for success, hoping for fame, hoping for fortune—and that's why there are so many disappointed actors in the world. Many of us, of course, act because we are not fit to do anything else. But I act, simply, to try to get better. If I'm in competition, I'm in competition with myself.

"I'm like a carpenter, always hoping one day to make the perfect chair, and so, taking this home with me back to London, I promise myself one thing—that I will carry on acting. And I promise you one thing, too... I will be back in San Sebastian."

If the film selection is always this varied, the welcome so warm, and the acceptance speech-making so humble, McKellen won't be the only one making a return visit. It's just a shame they can't order in a 3D reel of sunshine for the 2010 edition.

Posted by ahillis at September 29, 2009 3:41 PM