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Brutally blunt in its depiction of domestic violence. I almost wish I hadn’t seen this film, it’s that almost completely unbearable… I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Oh god. I have never seen a film that depicts the impact of domestic violence with such brutal bluntness as this one. Working from a novel by Lolita Bosch (which does not appear to be available in English), Spanish filmmaker Jordi Cadena has crafted a film that captures the simmering terror of a family living in fear, a cinematic bruise that spouts livid and then turns even uglier. Teen Manel (Igor Szpakowski) and his mother (Roser Camí) cower in their separate bedrooms in the morning, listening as Father (Ramon Madaula) goes about his routine before leaving for the day. The little apartment seems to sigh with relief once he’s gone…...

★★☆☆☆ Whilst Jordi Cadena's The Fear (2013) boasts a sensational performance from young talent Igor Szpakowski and a palpable sense of dread, this oppressive meditation on Spain's 'pact of forgetting' and Basque separatism ultimately proves an insensitive and tactless exploration of domestic violence. Shot almost entirely from the vantage point of teenager Manel (Szpakowski), we observe the effects of a brutal patriarch over a frail and helpless family. Cadena uses an abundance of extreme close-ups to express this suffocating malevolence, only withdrawing when Manel and his kid sister are safe at school.

Drawing parallels with 1973's The Spirit of the Beehive, The Fear offers up a plethora of lazy metaphors that mirror the allegorical films produced in Franco's Spain - with the father merely an emblematic representation of the country's past. This monstrosity could have been used to represent the paternal stronghold on Western society, where authority is asserted through fear and masculine dominance,...

Browse all the sections of the 57th London Film Festival (Oct 9-20) including the galas, competition titles and individual sections.

Alphabetical list of titles by section including feature premiere status

Wp = Wp

Ep = European Premiere

IP = International Premiere

UK = UK Premiere

Gala’s

Opening Night

Captain Phillips, Paul Greengrass (Us) Ep

Closing Night

Saving Mr Banks, John Lee Hancock (Us/UK) Ep

Philomena, Stephen Frears (UK) UK12 Years A Slave, Steve Mcqueen (UK) EPGravity, Alfonso Cuaron (Us) UKInside Llewyn Davis, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (Us) UKLabor Day, Jason Reitman (Us) EPThe Invisible Woman, Ralph Fiennes (UK), EPThe Epic Of Everest, John Noel (UK) WPBlue Is The Warmest Colour, Abdellatif Kechiche (France) UKNight Moves, Kelly Reichardt (Us) UKStranger By The Lake, Alain Guiraudie (France) UKDon Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Us) UKMystery Road, Ivan Sen (Australia) UKOnly Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch (Us) UKNebraska, Alexander Payne (Us) UKWe Are The Best!, Lukas Moodysson (Sweden) EPFoosball 3D, Juan Jose Campanella (Argentina...

Credit where it's due: there's one terrific, utterly astonishing scene in Elisa K's final act. It's just a shame you have to struggle through so much misguided, poorly constructed dross to get it. Directors Judith Colell and Jordi Cadena are not without talent and clearly want to do right by some very harsh, painful subject matter. But some absolutely baffling choices in regards to how they want to communicate that earnestness mean there's every chance only the most dedicated arthouse audiences are going to last the distance.At just over seventy minutes long, it's a simple story, where the depth (supposedly) comes from what's left to our imagination or what goes unsaid between the cast. The eleven-year-old Elisa has a happy, if fairly unremarkable childhood until...

2010 gave us a unique batch of films in Emilio Aragón's Paper Birds (Pájaros de Papel), Achero Mañas's Anything You Want (Todo lo que tú quieras), Jordi Cadena & Judith Colell's Elisa K. and festival circuit favorites in Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba's Chico y Rita, Guillem Morales' Julia’s Eyes (Los ojos de Julia) , Icíar Bollaín's Even the Rain (También la lluvia), Andrucha Washington' Lope and Alex de la Iglesia's nutty concoction The Last Circus (Balada triste de trompeta), but 2011 will be one hell of a ride. It should be a strong year for films from Spain not only in its domestic cull but on the international scene as well, and the films featured on the list appear to be more "ambitious" batch in their form and shape. These are my Top 5 Most Anticipated Spanish Films for 2011. #5. Extraterrestial This sci-fi comedy set in a small...

Best Actor winner Connor McCarron (top); Best Actress winner Nora Navas (bottom) Peter Mullan's Neds Wins Top Prize at San Sebastian Film Festival Special Mention to “A JAMA” by Daoud Aoulad-syad (Morocco-France) For the complexity achieved by a simple story. Jury Prize For Best Screenplay to Bent Hamer for “Home For Christmas“ (Norway-Sweden-Germany) Jury Prize For Best Cinematography to Jimmy Gimferrer for “Aita” (Spain) Silver Shell For Best Actor to Connor McCarron for “Neds” (UK-France-Italy) Silver Shell For Best Actress to Nora Navas for “Pa Negre” (Spain) Silver Shell For Best Director to Raoul Ruiz for “MISTÉRIOS De Lisboa” (Spain) Special Jury Prize to “Elisa K” by Judith Colell and Jordi Cadena (Spain) For the way it portrays the violence to which innocent people are exposed to in everyday life. Golden Shell For Best Film to “Neds” by Peter Mullan (UK-France-Italy) Jury: * Mr. Goran Paskaljevic (Serbia) (President) * Ms. Jo Allen...

Peter Mullan triumphed this past Saturday at the 58th edition of the San Sebastian Int. Film Festival when his third film, Neds won the Golden Shell for Best Picture. “Neds” is the story of John McGill, who is just about to start high school, where he fully expects to continue his so-far glittering academic career. But there are dark clouds on the horizon. His friendship with middle-class Julian shines a light on the abusive and dysfunctional status of his home life, where his father is a drunk, violent and ineffective, his mother is troubled and repressed and his elder brother is always in trouble with the law. At school, there are a pair of good teachers, but most are uninterested and unhelpful in the face of the brutal and territorial gang culture which has spread from local housing estates to the schoolyard. The film, a social commentary on education and violence in 70´s Glasgow,...

The programme for this year’s festival has been announced and there are a number of literature-based films including the Opening Night Gala Never Let Me Go, Closing Night Gala 127 Hours and the provocative ‘Muslim punks’ film The Taqwacores.

With so many films in this year’s Lff programme having their origins in printed form, a discussion panel is also being held on 25th October, with a number of screenwriters discussing their adaptations in the Hollywood Reporter-sponsored event A Novel Idea: Adapting Books for the Screen.

Below a selection of the films with a literary connection screening at this year’s London Film Festival:

Literary Feature Films:

127 Hours; Dir. Danny Boyle – Gripping, adventurous film making and headline grabbing drama from Oscar winning director Danny Boyle, based on Aron Ralston’s book Between a Rock and A Hard Place (set for re-release in January).

The American; Dir. Anton Corbijn – George Clooney...

San Sebastian, Spain -- A beaming Julia Roberts accepted the Donostia Award for lifetime achievement from the hands of "Eat Pray Love" co-star Javier Bardem at the 58th San Sebastian International Film Festival Monday.

"What a fortunate woman I've been in my life for a variety of reasons. If we were having dinner, I'd tell you all of them. But now, I'll just say thank you from the bottom of my heart," Roberts said on stage. "And thank you to San Sebastian, which is the most enthusiastic town."

Bardem called Roberts "fearless," "fun" and "friend."

The duo is in town, along with director Ryan Murphy and Richard Jenkins, accompanying Sony's release of "Eat" in Spain, which screened to packed theaters at the festival.

Roberts dazzled throngs that waited all day in front of the festival's epicenter, the Kursaal building, to glimpse "America's sweetheart" -- greeting them personally and taking pictures...

Madrid -- Four Spanish films by veteran directors are to compete in the official selection category of this year's 58th annual San Sebastian International Film Festival, organizers announced Friday.

Presented will be the ghost story "Aita," helmed by Jose Maria de Orbe; the child abuse and recovered memory drama "Elisa K," co-directed by Judith Colell and Jordi Cadena; "The Great Vazquez," about a serial bigamist and cartoonist during the Franco years directed by Oscar Aibar; and Agusti Villaronga's "Black Bread," a historical murder mystery set in post-Civil War Catalonia.

The films will be competing for the top prize, the Golden Shell, at the festival held in the northern Spanish seaside resort Sept. 17- 25.