I can’t say I was unhappy to be proved wrong in predicting the winners at Sunday’s Goya Awards. Never believe the media. Given the hype, Pedro Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In looked set to sweep the board, with 16 nominations. But instead the Spanish Film Academy gave the best prizes to Enrique Urbizu’s No Rest for the Wicked, which carried off Best Picture and Best Director, while veteran José Coronado took Best Actor for his portrayal of a maverick cop in the gritty police thriller — the fabulous curly perm he sports in the role was worth an award in itself. Interviewed as he entered the gala event at Madrid’s Opera House, Almodóvar gave the impression he had been tipped off that he … [Read more...] about Goya 2012: no joy for Almodóvar
Sleeping Voice
It’s gonna be a love fest at the Goya awards
With 16 nominations, Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito) will probably sweep the board on Sunday February 19, when Spain’s Film Academy announces the winners in the 26th annual Goya Awards. Bringing up second place will likely be Enrique Urbizu's thriller No Rest for the Wicked, which has 14 nominations, followed by Kike Maillo's directorial debut Eva with 12. Sunday night looks set to be a very public kiss and make up between Oscar-winning Almodóvar and the Academy, bringing to an end a frosty few years. The 16 nominations end a period of chilly relations between Almodóvar and the Spanish academy, which the director quit five years ago over changes to the … [Read more...] about It’s gonna be a love fest at the Goya awards
Spain’s Civil War film canon needs new urgency
It’s a terrible thing to have to say, but maybe the time has come for a moratorium on films about the Spanish Civil War. Last week saw the release of The Sleeping Voice (La voz dormida), an adaptation of Dulce Chacón’s novelised account of the vengeance exacted upon Republican women in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War by the Franco regime. In late 1939 in Ventas prison in Madrid, a group of women await the firing squad for having supported the Republican cause, or for having husbands, brothers and fathers who did. Among them are Hortensia, who fought with the militia and is pregnant by her husband Felipe – still at large – and who has been told she will be shot after she gives … [Read more...] about Spain’s Civil War film canon needs new urgency