Spain’s International Oscar nominee Saturn Return (Segundo Premio) picked up Best Film and Directing awards at the leading Spanish Film Festival of Málaga last May and has been widely praised by Spanish critics. It’s a film packed with local references and a dedication to its city of origin, Granada, and one that also pulls from a long tradition of on-screen representations of rock-n-rollers from well beyond Spain’s borders.
Content-wise, it should have no trouble appealing to a broader audience, but visually and narratively it’s an ambitious endeavor, making it a bold choice for the Academy Awards.
The film is loosely based around an actual 1990s-era band out of Andalusia called Los Planetas. Titles tell us this is not a story about the band, but rather about the legend of the band. To reinforce this, characters aren’t referred to by name (credits label them “the singer,” “the guitarist” and so on), except for the one female, May (Stéphanie Magnin), who leaves the group in an opening scene.
Spliced together in non-linear vignettes voiced-over as recollections from the main characters (think Daisy Jones & the Six without the on-camera interviews), the story arc is loosely formed around the band’s journey to make a third album after an initial success and then a flop. They’re in need of new musicians after May’s departure.
They also need new songs, but the guitarist’s (Cristalino) descent into heroin addiction is complicating that process. The singer (Daniel Ibañez) is fixated on recording in a New York City studio. He demands a budget for the trip from his music label’s executives, who send him home to make some music first.
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