Following his thriller The Beasts (2022), Rodrigo Sorogoyen changes course to craft a complex and delicate melodrama delving into the relationship between a father and daughter. Javier Bardem plays Esteban, a renowned film director who, after a 13-year estrangement, offers the lead role in his new film to his daughter Emilia in an effort to reconnect. Sorogoyen simultaneously portrays an egocentric film director who rules the set through a reign of terror and a young woman forced to confront the father who abandoned her family long ago. Above all, the duel between two exceptional actors - Javier Bardem and Victoria Luengo - is the very heartbeat of the film. The Beloved deconstructs the myth of the omnipotent artist while capturing the reality of filmmaking with astonishing authenticity. The unbroken 18-minute dialogue in the opening is reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman’s masterpieces, standing out as one of the most intense and unforgettable sequences of the year. (SEO Seunghee)