No Goyas for Pedro.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 9:47AM Jose here to report on Sunday night's Goya Awards.
The Goyas are always an unusually dull awards ceremony: imagine the Oscars without any commercial breaks or attempts at cheesy humor. Last night however there was something that made it one of the most interesting ceremonies in years: what was expected to be a clean sweep for Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In - which entered the race with an impressive 16 nominations - instead turned into yet another demonstration of the Spanish Academy members' apathy for their most famous prodigal child.
Pedro always becomes the center of discussion when it comes to these awards, particularly because while the rest of the world salivates over any new Almodóvar movies - just last week he upset A Separation at the BAFTAs - his fellow countrymen and women have only rewarded him three times in the past. [Continue...]
That's just twice for directing and surprisingly but once for his acclaimed screenplays.
The night's big winner was No habrá paz para los malvados (No Peace for the Wicked) a police drama which won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Sound and in an upset that sent ripples through the international press also Best Actor for José Coronado.
Ideally this was supposed to have been Antonio Bandera's big crowning night at the Goyas and judging from the number of times he was mentioned throughout the night you would've assumed he was a sure thing; however, he had to leave empty handed once again.
The only thing sadder than watching Antonio and Pedro lose, was watching Melanie Griffith trying to understand what the hell people around her were saying.
Pedro and team lose again
The night's big winners were:
Best Picture - No habrá paz para los malvados
Best Director - Enrique Urbizu for No habrá paz para los malvados
Best Actor - José Coronado for No habrá paz para los malvados
Elena Anaya won Best Actress for "The Skin I Live In"Best Actress - Elena Anaya for The Skin I Live In
Best Supporting Actor - Lluís Homar for Eva
Best Supporting Actress - Ana Wagener for The Sleeping Voice
Best Adapted Screenplay - Wrinkles
Best Original Screenplay - No habrá paz para los malvados
Best Documentary Feature - Listening to Judge Garzón
Best European Film - The Artist (France-USA) Michel Hazanavicius' film has now triumphed at pretty much every awards show it's been in.
Best Latin American Film - Chinese Take Away (Argentina)
So, dear readers in Spain, do we have a right to be shocked Pedro's movie lost so much? Have you seen the other nominees? Let us know in the comments!
Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Goyas, Pedro Almodóvar
Reader Comments (20)
At least Elena Anaya won, so there's that, but - yes, I am thoroughly astonished, given the greatness of so many of his films, his stature and following - is the voting body of the Goya's, like that of AMPAS, rather conservative in their tastes and habits? I would guess so, at any rate. Which films did he actually win for?
Thats unfortunate for Almodovar and I can't have much of an opinion on this because I haven't seen any of the other films. Having said that, was The Skin I Live In all that worthy of awards in comparison to the other nominated films?
I certainly think Anaya deserved Best Actress (even think she should've gotten an Oscar nod), but Banderas was totally flat for me. It was Anaya's film.
well, just a precision, José Coronado's win wasn't considered an upset in the slightest here
and I wasn't surprised they snubbed him for Director and Picture, he's just not well liked among his peers in Spain
Almodovar broke into the world of Spanish cinema as quite a revolution and the most traditional voices of the country tried to put as many obstacles to his open minded, renovating ways as possible. Some of them are still there, as conservative and stuck in time as usual, hating the fact that Pedro left behind the boundaries of Spanish cinema and become an internationally acclaimed author.
'No rest for the wicked' is a decent thriller, Urbizu a competent director and Jose Coronado was one of the countries hearthrobs for decades, and I guess he has improved on his very limited (at first) acting skills. I guess that they are perceived as the National star as he's been one of our most popular actors , whereas Banderas is now seen more as a Hollywood star, therefore disconnected from Spanish productions.
Anyway, the whole thing has always been quite shameful. :-)
Hi:
I live in Madrid and I saw the Goyas ceremony on sunday night... I wouldn't call it "dull".. Perhaps it is slow compared to american awards ceremonies... But it had great funny moments, specially the monologues by host Eva Hache and actor/director/funnyman Santiago Segura.
About the results, I don't agree with your interpretation of Almodovar's rejection... "The Skin I Live In" had 16 nominations, and it's from Spain's most internationally known director, but "No Peace for the Wicked" had 14... it had a better critical reception than Almodovar's film, and it's director, Enrique Urbizu, it's a well known director in Spain, who hadn't won a Goya before.... So the final results were expected.
In his career Almodovar has won 3 goyas for Best Picture (out of 7), and 2 for Best Director (out of 8).. So it's not that the spanish academy "hates" Almodovar.
The most unusual thing about the awards is that the wealth was widely spread... "No Peace" won 6 awards, "Skin..." won 4.. "Blackthorn" won 4 and the remaining best picture nominee "La Voz Dormida" ("The Sleeping Voice") won 3... "Eva" also won 3 awards.
As for my personal choices, all four best picture nominees were good but not great:
"No Peace for the Wicked" had a great start that gets dilluted towards the end. it's theme is unusual for a spanish movie, but you can get ten similar american movies every year. Coronado, a very popular actor in Spain that hadn't won the Goya before, deserves his best actor award completely.
"The Skin I Live In" has very interesting moments, but it's not up to Almodovar's best. Its "kinkiness" feels impossed.
"Blackthorn" is a rather classic western, gorgeously filmed, but that doesn't go beyond its academicism.
"The Sleeping Voice" was my favorite. Despite being biased in its political view and a little over the top in its melodrama, it provokes (at least to me) a big emotional reaction in the audience.
The only thing sadder than watching Antonio and Pedro lose, was watching Melanie Griffith trying to understand what the hell people around her were saying.
Awww it's worth just so her husband can mount her when it's all over.
If the same person wins always at any awards ceremony, it becomes BORING. Pedro won in 2007 for 'Volver'. That was 5 years ago, not 50 years ago. If he wins for every movie he makes, awards make nonsense. The winner film was predicted to take the Goya, so that's no surprise. The only surprise was 'Wrinkles' winning in Adapted Screenplay.
Also, do we have to go back to Cannes's lack of enthusiasm when Pedro presented 'The skin i live in' there last May? This hasn't been his best movie ever. Calm down a little bit, bloggers and awardsnuts.
Well, the goyas are the Goyas. For me it has near-to-zero credibility, just for nominating awfull films like Oxford murders or buried as best film. Even ryan reynolds is a Goya bet actor nominee. that says all.
His film was nominated 16 fuckin' times, I think he'll be fine.....
@ Nathaniel,
"Pedro always becomes the center of discussion when it comes to these awards, particularly because while the rest of the world salivates over any new Almodóvar movies - just last week he upset A Separation at the BAFTAs - his fellow countrymen and women have only rewarded him three times in the past."
If you replace Pedro with Meryl and the Goyas with the Oscars, it's pretty much the same situation. But it's always the case. Voters for any awards have NEVER EVER loved the word genius. It's probably envy. People don't want to vote for their peers that are somehow considered something really much more. After all isn't every a vote a vote for yourself?! In many ways.
@ on Antonio Banders. No way. Even if The Skin I Live In swept, best actor went where it did belong.
In my humble opinion, 'TSILI' defeat was no big surprise. Despite the 16 nominations most people following the actual awards race knew that it was very likely to be 'No habrá paz para los malvados''s night. Especially in the case of best actor, since Coronado has also been long overdue and there had been buzz about his performance for months and months. There was even banter about it during one of the monologues during the ceremony and right before the winner was announced Antonio Banderas stared at him, as a way of acknowledging that he wasn't expecting to win.
Yeah, The Skin I Live In losing was not an upset
@zoo
Meryl Streep is a baked ham without the Coke-cola.
Almodovar is the reason babies coo -- men wear sheer socks -- and why a cool ocean breeze is the envy of the world.
@zooey - FYI, Nathaniel didn't write this post. It was written by Jose.
Also, just because Almodovar and Streep may be genius, in their way, doesn't mean that everything they produce must also be genius.
That said, Spain's film industry does seem to have an odd relationship with Almodovar. I wonder if it's because people don't care for him, they want to spotlight new faces (a worthy goal, assuming those faces are worthy of recognition), or whatever.
Meryl's situation is entirely different, I think. She is BELOVED in America, and in Hollywood. I wish her fans would stop behaving as if she's constantly working to overcome some huge obstacle.
I do think she should have three Oscars by now, but the last time I thought she was truly "win worthy" was way back in 1983, with Silkwood. (Though she wasn't my first choice, she'd also have made a deserving winner in 1995, 2002, or 2006. I actually think she's fantastic in The Iron Lady, too, but this was such a strong year for actresses that she falls well outside my Top 5 for the year, and well behind Viola Davis, who I think is the only Best Actress nominee this year to give a better performance than Streep.) So, though I love me some Meryl, I don't think she's exactly gotten the short end of the stick, either.
I think that the Spanish academy mistake was they didn't sent "The Skin I live in" to the Oscars, no sense!!
Pedro had problems in the near past with the academy, and I think he only will win a Goya if he makes master pieces like "Volver" o "Todo sobre mi madre".
Perhaps the problem is the envy, but Penelope and Javier are loved in the academy.
Not surprising... The Skin I live In wasn't very well received in Spain... not his best!
Coronado was the clear front-runner for the best actor award since day one, and "The Skin I Live In" was never considered the favorite considering all the precursors went to Urbizu.
When Almodóvar goes noir, awards don't come as easily as when he does movies about chatty women in distress. Can't wait for that new comedy he just announced!
PS If you want to see a fantastic ensemble of actresses going Magnani, I recommend "The Sleeping Voice."
Ok, let's bring some common sense here: no every time Almodóvar makes a film it has to sweep the Academy Awards. I'm a BIG Almodóvar fan but it must be said that The skin I live in was a tremendous dissapointment, critically and box office wise. I still can't believe it beat A separation at the BAFTAS, what a folly!. No rest for the wicked in the other hand is a superb thriller, not to mention a great role for Coronado. It deserved to win big. But Almodóvar didn't actually lose. He won 4 goyas for the film, although Anaya only won because that cathegory was rather weak this year.
Banderas, the best part of TSILI in my opinion, knew he had no chance, so he told Melanie not to come to the ceremony with him, since she is busy currently shooting a film in New Orleans. She said that was the very reason why she sould acompany him, to support him. So she took the 24 hour trip. But I think she just didn't want to leave him at the hands of so many spanish starletts ;D
@Jose, thanks for asking! I'm surprised you to be shocked at all. I found curious your account of what has happened, to say the least.
@Carlos, cca, sse, Zach, Steve, PeggYSue, Seisgrados.. Completely right, in my opinion. You nailed it. Those were just my thoughts while I read Jose's post, only expressed in better english!
Count me on those who thought this year would be a comeback for Almodóvar. After the reconciliation in front of a big audience a couple of years ago (?) and after the 16 nominations, I don't think you can explain the results by just going back to Almodóvar history with them.
Sure Urbizu's film is good, but they always find someone good enough to beat him. They're both genre movies, it's not that Urbizu is No Country for old Men and Pedro's is Frost/Nixon. I'd say they're both quite at the same level, and still after 16 nominations you go for someone else? If you are going for someone else, why bother with the 16 nominations?*
I have no problem with Urbizu winning. He's been serving the industry and making quality commercial movies for a long time, but common the adapted screenplay? The adapted screenplay to Wrinkles -or rather, to anyone but Almodóvar- is more telling than anything else. I'm not saying he has to win every time he's nominated. Just saying that there must be more factors to be taken into account. The influence, or lack of it, El Deseo may have when compared to other bigger companies; the marketing strategies, the screeners sent, the friends votes (hello La chispa de la vida), the qualifying runs, if there're screenings organized for voters, etc..
In the same way I expected some award for Almodóvar, I also thought Banderas would be the frontrunner. He wasn't my favourite, far from it, but I personally consider Coronado's win a mistake. Yes, he can uglify himself, grow a beer belly, have some grey long dirty hair to play the - I'm always pissed off corrupted cop in one or two notes- . but try to explain his win in two or three years, hell, even in two or three months, going up against Luis Tossar. It's as embarrassing as rewarding Bullock having Streep among the nominees. But now he has a Goya, now you can't make jokes about him and his commercials to have regular visits to the toilet.
Maybe, as another reader said above, Almodóvar is just like Streep, he not only needs to do good movies ( I really liked The Skin I Live in better than Broken Embraces, or Kika, or...), but to top himself and have an undeniable masterpiece to be awarded again. Loved that at least actors acknowledged Jan Cornet and Elena Anaya simultaneously.
*Does anyone know how nominations work, as if they''re pre-printed on a ballot, for instance? The ridiculous number of nominations we see some years must have some kind of explanation.
Also, Melanie Griffith! I loved her gesture of having one of her fingers leaning against her chin as if she was thinking about what the others said really seriously. And she didn't do it jokingly!