Close Your Eyes

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2:00

Close Your Eyes

2024

2h 49m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

75 Reviews

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Set in contemporary Madrid, an aging filmmaker named Miguel Garay is called upon to recount his memories of working on his final and still unfinished film, "The Farewell Gaze." During its production, the lead actor and Miguel's close friend, Julio Arenas, disappeared without a trace, leaving in his wake a mystery that would haunt the lives of everyone associated with the film. Miguel never directed another project, instead living a quiet life as a writer by the coast. He remained reluctant to unravel the mystery surrounding Julio until approached by an investigative television program reviving the case decades later. With careful reflection, he reconnects with the film's crew, former lovers, and Julio's daughter, seeking closure for the disappearance and what it meant for all of their lives.

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Critics Consensus

A near-masterpiece for director/co-writer Victor Erice, Close Your Eyes ends his long gap between films with a moving meditation on memory, identity, and cinema itself.

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Leigh Singer

Sight & Sound

4d

[As] characters gaze up at the screen, and out, perhaps for the final time, at their audience, it’s hard to envisage a more emotionally overwhelming farewell, if that’s what Close Your Eyes becomes, from a vital, too-often missing, force in world cinema.

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Jacob Oller

AV Club

10/25/2024

B+

Movies and mortality are linked throughout the engrossing three-hour drama.

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Randy Myers

San Jose Mercury News

09/12/2024

4/4

“Close Your Eyes” is a sad, delicate, powerful and beautiful gift to film fans.

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Cameron Ritter

Geek Vibes Nation

Jul 20

9/10

Close Your Eyes is a surprisingly effective film that explores how art and life are intertwined, no matter how long it’s been since we last engaged with it. It will reinvigorate your love of cinema and how necessary it can be for the world.

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David Bax

Battleship Pretension

05/16/2025

The presentation of Close Your Eyes is gargantuanly filmic.

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Fletcher Powell

KMUW - Wichita Public Radio

04/17/2025

Close Your Eyes is exactly what I’d hoped for, which is to say, it left me nearly speechless.

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Kyle M

@RT77296778 Apr 11

A humanely carried premise that intrigues like "L’avventura" but resolves in similar straying focus by treading on memory and identity in a prehensible dive effectively adjacent to the unexpected attributive power of cinema, concluding ambiguously in loose confounding that somewhat attempts its own unneeded meta. (B)

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Tom F

@RT55173143 Nov 21

A largely satisfying look at movies and memories.

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Alec B

@Alec97 02/13/2025

The movie meanders, sometimes in interesting ways and other times in ways that are frustrating, but its never boring. If you can stick it out, the ending is rewarding.

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Jake H

@RT85206100 12/12/2024

This really is an epic masterpiece. A plot within a plot within a life story. Beautifully filmed; some very (but not too) long scenes that would also work on stage, which are absorbing and immersive. And a storyline which might be a rollercoaster if compressed into an average-length film, but is instead a bumpy ride. I'm a perfectionist. I know it when I see it. This is it. Worth waiting for.

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TurnipDude87 C

@RT73025589 09/01/2024

An incredible film. A must-see and one of the best films I have watched in years.

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Víctor Erice

Director

Manolo Solo

Miguel Garay

José Coronado

Gardel

Ana Torrent

Ana Arenas

Petra Martínez

Sor Consuelo

María León

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Close Your Eyes: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Set in contemporary Madrid, an aging filmmaker named Miguel Garay is called upon to recount his memories of working on his final and still unfinished film, "The Farewell Gaze." During its production, the lead actor and Miguel's close friend, Julio Arenas, disappeared without a trace, leaving in his wake a mystery that would haunt the lives of everyone associated with the film. Miguel never directed another project, instead living a quiet life as a writer by the coast. He remained reluctant to unravel the mystery surrounding Julio until approached by an investigative television program reviving the case decades later. With careful reflection, he reconnects with the film's crew, former lovers, and Julio's daughter, seeking closure for the disappearance and what it meant for all of their lives.

Director: Víctor Erice
Screenwriter: Víctor Erice, Michel Gaztambide, Víctor Erice, Michel Gaztambide, José Alba
Distributor: Film Movement
Production Co: Tandem Films, Nautilusfilm
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Spanish
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 23, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 3, 2024
Box Office (Gross USA): $44.1K
Runtime: 2h 49m