Jaime Lorente has been one of the most popular faces on the Spanish audiovisual scene in recent years. Since his breakthrough as one of the leads in the series Money Heist, a colossal Netflix hit that catapulted practically its entire cast to stardom, the actor has not been off screens for a single year. He now debuts as a director with The Bad Son, which has premiered in the New Directors section of the Festival de San Sebastián.

The film is a story of open wounds passed down from generation to generation. At its heart is Rubén (played as a child by Abel de la Fuente), whom we meet as a boy living with his grandmother, a woman known as the Murcian (Susi Sánchez, once again delivering an outstanding performance), who lavishes care and affection upon the lad. And despite this, the protagonist cannot help but feel the void left by the absence of a father lost in his own tragedies, and of a mother who cannot help projecting onto the boy resentments and grudges for which he is not to blame.

With his grandmother as the axis of his entire existence, Rubén grows up and is forced to face a hostile landscape in which violence and insecurity seem inevitable. This portrait of an inland village that could be many a town in Spain is highly accomplished, and issues such as the slave-like treatment meted out to migrants working the fields are presented with stark candour, lending the film an appreciable socio-political dimension. But where Lorente’s debut as a director truly triumphs is in the intimate moments. With Rubén now grown (played here by a very convincing Hugo Arbues), the roles of carer and cared-for are reversed, and it falls to him to take charge of his grandmother’s well-being. The caregiving scenes, in which the rapport and affection feel real and almost palpable, are the movie's finest passages and deserve enthusiastic applause.

The Bad Son moves fluidly towards a final climax in which the protagonist must take decisive action to escape the pain and precarity in which he seems hopelessly trapped. Deftly, the film moulds the story of a boy who wants to become a good man, despite the violence, injustice and lack of love that have surrounded him for much of his life. With this kind of domestic western, where there may not be carriages but there is no lack of clapped-out cars, Lorente stakes his claim as a director to watch in the coming years.

The Bad Son is a production by AF Films and El mal hijo la película SL. Film Factory Entertainment handles its international sales, and AF Pictures is distributing it in Spain.