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Under the Stars (Bajo las estrellas)

Felix Viscarret
Spain / 2007 / 107 min / Spanish with English subtitles

After its successful critic and box office success in Spain, Under the Stars is a remarkable debut film, in which Félix Vizcarret, well known by his short films, evokes the claustrophobia and paranoia of small-town life, with everyone getting into everyone else’s business and secrets hard to keep. When Benito Lacunza, a shiftless waiter cum aspiring jazz musician, has to return to his hometown Estella for a few days, he is surprised to learn that his brother Lalo -who makes sculptures out of scrap metal- is about to marry. Benito remembers the bride all too well from his oat-sowing adolescence: she is Nines, a single mom who’s seen her share of hard times. Benito decides to save his brother from such a fate, but unexpectedly finds himself up against a formidable foe in the person of Nine’s daughter, Ainara, an introverted, rebellious, precocious smoker who Benito ends up forging a one-of-a-kind friendship with. San Juan’s excellent performance as Benito won him a 2008 Goya for Best Lead Actor. The fim’s palmares gathers the most important awards in Spain, including those as best director, screenplay at the San Sebastián and Malaga Film Festivals.