Who's Stopping Us

Who's Stopping Us (Spanish: Quién lo impide) is a 2021 Spanish film directed by Jonás Trueba. Featuring a running time over three and a half hours long, the film is a generational portrait of youth blending documentary and fiction pieces.

Who's Stopping Us
Theatrical release poster
Spanish	Quién lo impide
Directed by	Jonás Trueba
Written by	Jonás Trueba
Starring	Candela Recio Pablo Hoyos Silvio Aguilar Rony-Michelle Pinzaru Pablo Gavira Claudia Navarro Marta Casado Sancho Javiérez
Cinematography	Jonás Trueba
Edited by	Marta Velasco
Music by	Rafael Berrio Pablo Gavira Andrei Mazga Alberto González
Production company	Los Ilusos Films
Distributed by	Atalante Cinema
Release dates	22 September 2021 (2021-09-22) (Zinemaldia) 22 October 2021 (2021-10-22) (Spain)
Running time	220 min
Country	Spain
Language	Spanish

Plot

The film tracks a group high schoolers in Madrid, following them from mid-teens to their early 20s.^[1]

Cast

• Candela Recio^[2]
• Pablo Hoyos^[2]
• Silvio Aguilar^[2]
• Rony-Michelle Pinzaru^[2]
• Pablo Gavira^[2]
• Claudia Navarro^[2]
• Marta Casado^[2]
• Sancho Javiérez^[2]

Production

A Los Ilusos Films production,^[2] Who's Stopping Us was shot from 2016 to 2021.^[1]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the 69th San Sebastián International Film Festival (SSIFF), screened on 22 September 2021 (6th day) as pàrt of the festival's official competition.^[3] Distributed by Atalante Cinema,^[2] the film was theatrically released in Spain on 22 October 2021.^[4]

Reception

Pablo Vázquez of Fotogramas scored 5 out of 5 stars, extolling the absence of any sort of imposture, while noting that its extended runtime perhaps will dissuade cowards, assessing the film to be "a cum laude thesis with which its director embraces his maturity as a filmmaker".^[5]

Carmen L. Lobo of La Razón gave it 4 out of 5 stars, considering "its splendid, immersive direction, and the optimism and nostalgia enveloping the film" to be the best thing about Who's Stopping Us.^[6]

Quim Casas of El Periódico de Catalunya rated the film with 4 out of 5 stars, considering that the vast amount of material "has taken an exciting form, in different blocks perfectly articulated with each other."^[7]

Jonathan Romney of ScreenDaily wrote that the film is "not as revelatory as it intends, this is an only intermittently fascinating watch, an over-extended experiment that doesn't quite hold its own against 21st-century cinema's more incisive portraits of youth".^[1]

Who's Stopping Us closed Cahiers du Cinéma's top 10 films of 2022 list.^[8]

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2021	69th San Sebastián International Film Festival	Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance	The whole cast	Won	[9][10]
		Feroz Zinemaldia Award		Won
		FIPRESCI Award		Won
2022	9th Feroz Awards	Arrebato Award (Non-Fiction Film)		Nominated	[11]
	77th CEC Medals	Best Documentary Film		Won	[12]
	36th Goya Awards	Best Documentary Film		Won	[13]
	9th Platino Awards	Best Documentary Film		Nominated	[14]

See also

• List of Spanish films of 2021

References

1. Romney, Jonathan (24 September 2021). "'Who's Stopping Us': San Sebastian Review". ScreenDaily.
2. García, Alejandra (20 October 2021). "'Quién lo impide' – estreno en cines 22 de octubre". Audiovisual451.
3. Zamora, Andrea (23 September 2021). "San Sebastián 2021 Día 6: El terror de lo cotidiano de 'La abuela' de Paco Plaza invade el festival". Sensacine.
4. Partearroyo, Manuela (3 November 2021). "'Quién lo impide': más que una película, un salto al vacío que retrata el miedo y la honestidad adolescente". Vogue.
5. Vázquez, Pablo (21 October 2021). "Crítica de 'Quién lo impide'". Fotogramas.
6. Lobo, Carmen L. (21 October 2021). "Crítica de "Quién lo impide": y Jonás se comió a la ballena ★★★★☆". La Razón.
7. Casas, Quim (21 October 2021). "Crítica de 'Quién lo impide': retrato de una generación". El Periódico de Catalunya.
8. Zilko, Christian (1 December 2022). "'Pacifiction' Tops Cahiers du Cinema's Best Films of 2022 List". IndieWire.
9. "[Festival de San Sebastián 2021] Palmarés completo". Cinemanía. 25 September 2021 – via 20minutos.es.
10. Belinchón, Gregorio (25 September 2021). "Concha de Oro de San Sebastián para la discutida película rumana 'Blue Moon'". El País.
11. "Palmarés de los Premios Feroz 2022: todos los ganadores en la noche del cine español". Vanitatis. 30 January 2022 – via El Confidencial.
12. "'El amor en su lugar' arrasa en las Medallas CEC con hasta seis premios, todos los principales". Cine con Ñ. 10 February 2022.
13. Gajewski, Ryan (12 February 2022). "Spain's Goya Awards: Javier Bardem's 'The Good Boss' Named Best Picture". The Hollywood Reporter.
14. ""El buen patrón" y la serie argentina "El reino", los más nominados a los Premios Platino". Telam. 31 March 2022.