It’s been a great joy to cover the 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) so far. That said, as I can only get so much writing done while also contending with other responsibilities, let alone traveling (walking) back and forth in the rain, condensing things down to the highlights of some evenings seems the right way to go about things. With that in mind, it’s been an eclectic evening, having watched two wildly different features (a Peruvian period drama and a skydiving documentary), along with a lengthy interview/career retrospective with Ralph Fiennes. Still, for the third night attending this festival for the first time, there was plenty to enjoy.
See Also: SBIFF 2025 Review: ‘Magic Hour’ Supports Dreams
Mistura – A Delicous Look at Peru
Set in 1960s Lima, Peru, writer/director Ricardo de Montreuil’s Mistura tells the story of a wealthy French-Peruvian woman who must figure out the next stage of her life after being betrayed by her jerk of a husband. The woman in question is Norma Piet (Bárbara Mori), who was living a privileged life among the wealthy. However, this change-up in her status quo pushes her out of elite society, leading her to become closer with those serving her, including a loyal driver, Oscar (played quite effectively by musician César Ballumbrosio).
The real hook of this story is watching Norma follow through on her choice to start a restaurant. It’s a way to highlight Peru’s vibrant and diverse culture, and the superb cinematography does a tremendous job of bringing out the details of the country, as well as the depictions of food on display. At this point, it may be a cliche to say the right kinds of movies about food can make you hungry, but it’s often true, and Mistura is no different.
Much of the strength in this film rests on the shoulders of the varied performances. Mori is outstanding here as Norma, a woman who is humbled, to say the least, but allows uncomfortable truths about her past behavior to come out in the open. Sure, her frustrations sometimes do the job of not putting her in the best of lights, but it’s seeing this character realize their faults that allows the performance to have worthwhile layers.
As mentioned, Ballumbrosio, in his first screen performance, shows that the Peruvian percussionist has a lot of talent in letting his warmth come through on screen. While many performers are filling the roles of servants in Norma’s life, Oscar is the main voice of reason here and provides an effective presence throughout the film.
If the film falters in any way, it’s the pacing and figuring out a proper direction for the story. While there’s plenty to be taken away from this film regarding its handling of Peruvian culture, the separation of classes, and various reckonings occurring between characters, the film is not always the most adept at finding solutions to some of the struggles. This feels especially apparent by the end, where the film seems to submit to something almost too traditional despite making a level of sense.
However, there is enough about Mistura that makes it a compelling watch. Whether it’s the predicament forced upon our lead character that leads to an effective performance or just the general look of this often visually stunning film, there’s plenty at play to enjoy, especially when seeing a movie that puts plenty of great-looking food on display.
Space Cowboy – Maybe Cars Can Fly
I love the straightforward nature of what this documentary is after. It could be about how Joe Jennings, a pioneer of skydiving cinematography, looks at his life and what it has meant to have done death-defying stunts over and over again, seeing how it’s affected his other loved ones along the way and determining what this says about the great state of things. But really, Space Cowboy just wants us to see if Jennings can push a used car out of the back of an airplane and see if he can steadily fly it down to the ground after having left the airborn seats and gotten out of the way.
Okay, so perhaps the film also has an introspective side. However, I can appreciate Jennings opening up to a documentary crew to speak on his life’s work and the possibility of crossing a major item off his bucket list. This plays well with this feature-length documentary, which showcases plenty of aerial stunts while delving into the innovation required to become a celebrity in the extreme sports world and the drama that has befallen some of Jennings’ friends.
Director Bryce Leavitt found interest in Jennings and brought on co-director Marah Straugh (of Sunshine Superman fame) to help realize this vision. The results are pretty entertaining. The film has a good amount of archive footage to work with, thanks to Jennings’ retaining so much footage of all the various stunts, events, etc. that he’s covered over the years. At the same time, seeing the modern-day work going into putting cars together and figuring out the best way to shove them out of airplanes for the sake of “science!” keeps things on point.
Now, I’m not a skydiver, but I’ve seen it in action plenty of times in both the real world from a far distance and in movies and TV shows. Fittingly, Jennings has worked on quite a few films when it comes to finding interesting ways to film actual moments involving skydiving. Seeing how the film covers this is a lot of fun, but it does provide a fitting gateway into other experiences.
Much like in the rest of life, where anything can happen, some tragedies have occurred involving people Jennings was close with. Space Cowboy does a fine job of reckoning with those losses without losing too much momentum from witnessing impressive aerial acrobatics. And once again, since there’s also a clear goal in mind for Jennings in terms of the arc of this documentary, it’s all the more rewarding to go on this journey through the man’s professional timeline and conclude with something captured so wonderfully on camera.
These are some fine theatrics to be witness to, and it was great to actually hear from Jennings in a Q&A, along with the directors, after the screening, so until next time, I’ll be seeing you, Space Cowboy.
Ralph Fiennes – A Man Of Many Great Roles
For the SBIFF, the main event was watching Oscar-nominated actor Ralph Fiennes receive an Outstanding Performer of the Year Award at the Arlington Theater in downtown Santa Barbara. Fiennes was being honored for his work in his most recent film, Conclave, which is currently up for several Oscars, including Best Actor for the man of the evening. I was in attendance and was happy to see the entire presentation, which was quite pleasant.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg spoke with Feinnes for nearly two hours, covering the actor’s career at length. This included discussions of Schindler’s List, Quiz Show, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Harry Potter, in addition to less obvious films that I’m quite the fan of, such as Strange Days, Sunshine, In Bruges, and The Constant Gardener.
Through it all, I was most interested in hearing Fiennes speak on his relationships with the various directors he’s worked with on these projects, whether it’s Steven Spielberg, David Cronenberg, Kathyrn Bigelow, Robert Redford, or the late Anthony Minghella. As a performer who has also directed a few films himself, it’s clear he has an admiration not only for the work that goes into acting on stage and screen but behind the camera as well. Perhaps that goes without saying, but when you have an esteemed actor speaking with so much delight about what he recalls about these various filmmakers, it provides some nice perspective from someone who’s been at this for nearly forty years and still seems excited by it all.
Following this conversation and the various clips accompanying the thoughts on many of these roles, Conclave director Edward Berger came on stage to read his own speech regarding Fiennes and handed the man the award himself. It all made for a well-rounded evening.
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The 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will be taking place from February 4 to February 15, 2025.
