| Saturn Return | |
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_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Spanish | Segundo premio |
| Directed by |
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| Screenplay by |
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| Produced by | Cristóbal García |
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Takuro Takeuchi |
| Edited by | Javi Frutos |
| Music by | Ylia |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | BTeam Pictures (es) |
Release dates |
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| Countries |
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| Language | Spanish |
Saturn Return (Spanish:Segundo premio) is a 2024 musical drama film directed byIsaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez starringDaniel Ibáñez,Stéphanie Magnin, and Cristalino. Set in the late 1990s against the backdrop ofGranada's musical scene, the plot fictionalizes the creative process behindLos Planetas' third album.[1][2]
The film premiered on 5 March 2024, in competition at the27th Málaga Film Festival, where it won theGolden Biznaga, ahead of its Spanish theatrical release on 24 May 2024 byBTeam Pictures. It was selected as theSpanish submission for theBest International Feature Film at the97th Academy Awards.
Granada. 20th century. A man and a woman walk away from aski slope. The man (the singer) recriminates the woman (May) about her decision to leave [the band] (Los Planetas). The woman recalls that was not the way things happened, and proceeds to narrate her version, the version of abassist who performed live with her back to the audience and the member who left the musical act. According to her, at 27 years old, when the other members wanted to release an album, the woman simply wanted to depart.
The band's guitarist plays some guitar chords to the singer. The films depicts the singer and the guitarist awkwardly performing at a television show along with pre-recorded music, the guitarist's struggles with substance abuse, the singer and the guitarist asking a reluctant record company inMadrid to record their third album inNew York City, the singer and the guitarist search for a drummer and a bassist, managing to recruit the former, who divagates about what makes Granada special about its musical scene. The plot depicts the guitarist's hallucinations and fantasies after a gig, a casual meeting of the guitarist with May, who has started a university degree, and a guitarist's mishap that lands him in hospital, with his hands bandaged. While having a full lineup, the band struggles to meet their creative deadlines with the label, and the guitarist tells the singer that May did not leave because of the accident stuff. The singer meets with a defiant May at the university and they later talk and smoke on a terrace. After attending the sameprocession, the drummer and the guitarist meet and question's about the singer's NYC plans. The guitarist experiences hallucinations with NYC.
The guitarist proposes to the singer and the drummer to seclude themselves to meet their creative deadlines with the album. The group showcases their advances to the music label executives. The singer is pushed to continue working on a hit song and suggested to leave the guitarist behind should they travel to NYC to record the album. The singer phones May to talk about the band's advances and fails to convince her into rejoining the band.
The singer finally travels to NYC without the guitarist, who was taken to Madrid by Santa to undergo some rehab. The memory of the guitarist haunts the singer, who phones the guitarist and proposes him to rejoin the band in NYC. The guitarist and the singer meet again there and the band records the third album,Una semana en el motor de un autobús [es]. May receives acompact disc copy of the album.
Saturn Return was originally set to be directed byJonás Trueba, but Trueba eventually left the project for undisclosed reasons andIsaki Lacuesta took over, whileFernando Navarro remained in writing duties.[6][7][1] The film is Spanish-French co-production by La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films, Capricci Films, Bteam Prods., Sideral Cinema, Los Ilusos Films, and Toxicosmos AIE production.[1][2][8]
In April 2023, days before the start of production, Lacuesta's andIsa Campo's daughter Luna became ill, and so Lacuesta directed the film remotely from the hospital, with the on-site collaboration of assistant director Pol Rodríguez.[9] The film is dedicated to Luna, who died fromleukemia before the film's premiere.[10][11]
Shooting locations inGranada included the Campo del Príncipe.[12] The film was additionally shot inSeville,Madrid, andNew York.[13]
Film distribution was handled byBTeam Pictures in Spain and Capricci Films in France.[1] Latido Films acquired international sales rights.[1]
For its world premiere,[14] the film was presented at the27th Málaga Film Festival on 5 March 2024.[15] It was also selected for screenings at the 14thD'A Film Festival Barcelona [ca], the 25thBuenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI),[16][17] the39th Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ibero-American Fiction Feature Film selection),[18] and theSeattle Film Festival.[19] It was released theatrically in Spain on 24 May 2024.[20] Outsider Pictures acquired North-American rights to the film.[21]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 86% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10.[22]
Jonathan Holland ofScreenDaily deemed the film to be something both "very watchable and artistically satisfying".[3]
Andrea G. Bermejo ofCinemanía rated the film 5 out of 5 stars and praised the work of the cast, both the musicians who had never acted before and the actors who never had had a Granadan accent.[23]
Raúl Julián ofMondo Sonoro gave the film a 8 out of 10 score, writing about "100 minutes of focus and approach far removed from conventionalisms and well maintained by the filmmakers, as well as supported by actors in a state of grace".[24]
Eulàlia Iglesias ofAra rated the film 4½ out of 5 stars, pointing out that a number of features in the film "move the proposal away from the prosaic routines of musical biopics with an exhaustive, mimetic and Wikipedist vocation".[25]
Sergi Sánchez ofLa Razón rated the film 5 out of 5 stars, considering it one of "the most exciting films about friendship and artistic creation that recent Spanish cinema has produced".[26]
Marta Medina ofEl Confidencial rated the film 4 out of 5 stars, considering it "one of the most suggestive films of the year".[4]
Carlos Aguilar ofVariety found the film to be one of the "most honest and reinvigorating music biopics in years".[27]
In September 2024, theAcademy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain selectedSaturn Return for a shortlist of 3 films to determinetheir final submission for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards,[28] eventually becomingSpain's submission to the aforementioned award.[29]
The film appeared on a number of critics' lists of top Spanish films of 2024:
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | 27th Málaga Film Festival | Golden Biznaga for Best Spanish Film | Won | [34] | |
| Best Director | Isaki Lacuesta, Pol Rodríguez | Won | |||
| Best Editing | Javi Frutos | Won | |||
| 30th Forqué Awards | Best Film | Nominated | [35] | ||
2025 | 17th Gaudí Awards | Best Non-Catalan Language Film | Nominated | [36] | |
| Best Director | Isaki Lacuesta, Pol Rodríguez | Won | |||
| Best Original Screenplay | Isaki Lacuesta, Fernando Navarro | Nominated | |||
| Best Production Supervision | Carlos Amoedo | Nominated | |||
| Best Cinematography | Takuro Takeuchi | Won | |||
| Best Costume Design | Lourdes Fuentes | Nominated | |||
| Best Makeup and Hairstyles | Yolanda Piña, Inés Díaz | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound | Diana Sagrista, Alejandro Castillo, Eva Valiño, Antonin Dalmasso | Won | |||
| Best Visual Effects | María Magnet, Marion Delgado, Iñaki Gil "Ketxu", Sebastien Launay | Nominated | |||
| 4th Carmen Awards | Best Film | Won | [37][38] | ||
| Best Original Screenplay | Fernando Navarro | Won | |||
| Best New Actor | Cristalino | Won | |||
| Best Costume Design | Lourdes Fuentes | Won | |||
| Best Editing | Javier Frutos | Won | |||
| Best Sound | Diana Sagrista | Nominated | |||
| Best Art Direction | Pepe Domínguez, Gigia Pellegrini | Won | |||
| Best Makeup and Hairstyles | Yolanda Piña | Won | |||
| Best Special Effects | María Magnet, Marian Delgado | Won | |||
| 39th Goya Awards | Best Film | Nominated | [39] | ||
| Best Director | Isaki Lacuesta, Pol Rodríguez | Won | |||
| Best New Actor | Cristalino | Nominated | |||
| Daniel Ibáñez | Nominated | ||||
| Best Cinematography | Takuro Takeuchi | Nominated | |||
| Best Editing | Javi Frutos | Won | |||
| Best Original Song | "Love Is the Worst" by Alondra Bentley, Isaki Lacuesta | Nominated | |||
| Best Art Direction | Pepe Domínguez del Olmo | Nominated | |||
| Best Costume Design | Lourdes Fuentes | Nominated | |||
| Best Sound | Diana Sagrista, Eva Valiño, Alejandro Castillo, Antonin Dalmasso | Won | |||
| Best Production Supervision | Carlos Amoedo | Nominated | |||
| 33rd Actors and Actresses Union Awards | Best Film Actor in a Leading Role | Daniel Ibáñez | Nominated | [40] | |
| Best New Actor | Cristalino | Nominated | |||
