About this episode

The episode features a discussion on the best and mediocre films from the Cannes Film Festival 2026, highlighting insights from critic Jack Salvadori.

Welcome to another special edition of the UK Film Review Podcast . In this episode, titled Cannes Film Festival 2026, host and film critic Chris Olson sits down with resident critic Jack Salvadori, who has just returned from the Croisette. The 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival proved to be a thoroughly complicated affair, and Jack brings his characteristically candid, unfiltered insights straight from the cinema halls of France to our listeners. The conversation begins with what Jack fiercely defends as the absolute best film of Cannes 2026: El Ser Querido (The Beloved) . Directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, the film marked the director's confident, precise arrival in Official Competition. Jack walks Chris through how the film rests entirely on the monumental shoulders of Javier Bardem, who delivers one of the finest performances of his career as Esteban Martínez, a legendary, Oscar-winning filmmaker returning to Spain to shoot a colonial-era desert epic. However, beneath the cinematic grandeur lies an intimate family drama regarding Esteban's attempt to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Emilia, played by Victoria Luengo. Jack highlights Sorogoyen's mastery of tension and…

People in this episode

Host: Chris Olson

Guest: Jack Salvadori

Topics covered

• Cannes Film Festival
• film reviews
• queer cinema
• family drama
• film criticism

Keywords

• Cannes Film Festival
• El Ser Querido
• Javier Bardem
• Rodrigo Sorogoyen
• film criticism
• family drama
• queer cinema

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rodrigo Sorogoyen

Books & works: El Ser Querido

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• The Films of Steven Spielberg - Part 2 · July 9, 2026 · 57 min
• The Films of Steven Spielberg - Part 1 · July 2, 2026 · 1h 40m
• UK Film Club 40 · June 25, 2026 · 1h 22m

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