This weekend's films

“Disclosure Day”, the latest encounter between Spielberg and the aliens

This highly anticipated film is the star attraction of the weekend at the cinema, starring Josh O’Connor and Emily Blunt

by Andrea Chimento

12 June 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

More close encounters for Steven Spielberg: the undisputed star of the weekend at the cinema is the highly anticipated “Disclosure Day”, a film in which the American director returns to the theme of encounters between humans and aliens.

Although this theme has been explored numerous times throughout his career – most notably in the 1977 film *Close Encounters of the Third Kind* and the 1982 film *E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial” in 1982, and later with “War of the Worlds” in 2005 – Spielberg nevertheless manages to breathe new life into a narrative that, whilst certainly not new to cinema, confronts us with a major moral dilemma: if we were to discover that we are not alone and someone were to prove it to us, how would we react?

This question – and the virtually endless range of possible answers – sets the scene for a film that deals precisely with the imminent arrival of the ‘day of revelation’: Spielberg no longer deals directly with the confrontation between humans and aliens (whether peaceful or hostile, as in the films mentioned above), but rather with the possible consequences of this revelation.

“Disclosure Day” depicts a world on the brink of the Third World War, with the news relentlessly reporting on increasingly dire international conflicts, whilst a group of dissidents seeks to reveal to the world everything that has been kept secret regarding the presence of extraterrestrials on Earth.

However, it is not aliens but human beings on whom Spielberg focuses, exploring their ethical, moral, philosophical and even religious perspectives.

“Disclosure Day” e gli altri film della settimana
Photogallery4 foto

Exponential growth

Whilst the film’s screenplay in the first half contains a few passages that are a little too convoluted, as the minutes tick by, “Disclosure Day” builds to a crescendo (the action sequence featuring a speeding train is particularly impressive), culminating in a final half-hour of breathtaking pace, where we, the audience, find ourselves in the shoes of a public ready to receive the shocking news.

Just as in his memorable previous feature film – the autobiographical *The Fabelmans* (2022) – Spielberg once again plays with cinema, and it is certainly no coincidence that the “homecoming” of one of the story’s protagonists takes place on a sort of grand film set reconstructed for the occasion.

Once again, as he approaches his 80th birthday, the director of *Jaws* and *Schindler’s List* places his boundless passion for the art of cinema and the redemptive potential it holds at the heart of his narrative.

Romeria

Another of the most eagerly awaited new releases this weekend is “Romería”, the third feature film by Spanish director Carla Simón, following the success of “Summer 1993” (2017) and “Alcarràs” (2022).

Here too, Simón focuses on an intimate story, directly linked to her personal memories: Marina, an eighteen-year-old girl (explicitly an alter ego of the Spanish director), was orphaned as a child and sets out on a journey to get to know members of her family she has never met before.

The meetings will provide an opportunity for her to reflect on her family ties, as she attempts to piece together fragments of her own memories and those of her immediate family – memories she has never been able to know or recall.

“Romería” is undoubtedly a film steeped in powerful emotions – emotions that oscillate between the desire to embrace (new?) relationships, which could prove decisive for the protagonist’s future, and a necessary reserve that keeps Marina from letting herself go completely in the face of so many new developments.

These feelings, whether positive or negative, are a mixture of emotions and fears, hopes and traumas that we have tried to suppress over the years.

Carla Simón uses the medium of film to offer an observer’s perspective on the world surrounding the young protagonist: right from the very first scene, we see how Marina uses a video camera to capture and commit to memory the journey she is undertaking.

Her journey is, above all, a symbolic one, marked by the passage of time through the various short chapters that make up the film, in which one senses the Spanish director’s sincerity, but perhaps not quite the urgency of such an intimate and profound story. In fact, there are no real standout moments to remember, and the pace is so uneven that it makes the viewing experience less engaging than it could and should have been. There is no shortage of food for thought, but something feels off here and there, making it a film that is only half-successful.