'The Beasts' wins big at the Goyas

by Nathaniel R

THE BEASTS © Greenwich Entertainment

Spain's annual Goya Awards, now in their 37th year,  were held this weekend in Seville. Rodrigo Soroyen's thriller The Beasts, about a middle aged French couple who move to rural Spain and are greeted with surprising hostility by neighbors won big. It took nine prizes from its 17 nominations. (Greenwich Entertainment has distribution rights in the US but no word yet on when it's coming out.) If the name Rodrigo Soroyen sounds familiar to you, that's because he was an Oscar nominee not too long ago with the live-action short Madres (2018)...

 Alcarràs, Spain's Oscar submission, went home empty-handed, while its rivals for that very same submission (The Beasts and Lullaby) both won multiple Goyas. It's always interesting when that happens so it's worth noting again that the groups that pick the Oscar submission for any given country are rarely the same group choosing the country's own top awards. In Spain's case it is the same Academy though we'll assume that it's a subgroup within the group as the entire voting body surely isn't voting four months early and then voting again. If they are it's very strange to see Alcarràs fare so poorly. (The major exception to this "not the same group" situation is Israel as the winner of the Ophir automatically becomes their Oscar submission... provided it's not in the English language of course).

After the jump the complete winners list including two very busy French actors and a certain Norwegian film that we've been obsessed with for well over a year now...

Best film

• Alcarràs - Carla Simón
• ★ The Beasts - Rodrigo Sorogoyen
• Lullaby - Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
• La Maternal - Pilar Palomero
• Prison 77 - Alberto Rodríguez

Best director

• Carla Simón - Alcarràs
• ★ Rodrigo Sorogoyen - The Beasts
• Pilar Palomero - La Maternal
• Carlos Vermut - Mantícora
• Alberto Rodríguez - Prison 77

Best new director

• Carlota Pereda - Piggy
• ★ Alauda Ruiz de Azúa - Lullaby
• Elena López Riera - El Agua
• Juan Diego Botto - En Los Márgenes
• Mikel Gurrea - Suro

We've heard wonderful things about Lullaby but sadly it has no US distribution. 

Best original screenplay

• Arnau Vilaró, Carla Simón - Alcarràs
• ★ Isabel Peña, Rodrigo Sorogoyen - The Beasts
• Alauda Ruiz de Azúa - Lullaby
• Carlos Vermut - Mantícora
• Alberto Rodríguez; Rafael Cobos - Prison 77

Best adapted screenplay

ONE YEAR ONE NIGHT

• Carlota Pereda - Piggy
• Paul Urkijo Alijo - Irati
• Guillem Clua; Oriol Paulo - God’s Crooked Lines
• David Muñoz, Félix Viscarret  - No mires a los ojos
• ★ Fran Araújo, Isa Campo, Isaki Lacuesta - One Year, One Night

One Year One Night is about traumatized survivors. It stars extremely busy international thespians Noémie Merlant (from France) and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart (from Argentina). They both broke through via French cinema but work all over the world.

Best actor

• ★ Denis Ménochet - The Beasts
• Luis Tosar - On The Fringe
• Nacho Sánchez - Mantícora
• Javier Gutiérrez - Prison 77
• Miguel Herrán, Prison 77

Even if you don't know the name Denis Ménochet, you've seen him in a movie. He's been in excellent American films (Inglorious Basterds, The French Dispatch), US/British would-be blockbusters (Robin Hood, Assassin's Creed) multiple acclaimed French films  (Custody, In the House, By the Grace of God) and Spanish films, too! He's also up for the César for Best Lead Actor this year with the Fassbinder riff Peter Von Kant. 

Best actress

• Marina Foïs -The Beasts
• ★ Laia Costa - Lullaby
• Anna Castillo - Wild Flowers
• Bárbara Lennie - God’s Crooked Lines
• Vicky Luengo - Suro

You might remember Laia Costa from the absolutely thrilling continuous-shot drama Victoria (2015) in which she had the lead role. 

Best supporting actor

• Diego Anido - The Beasts
• ★ Luis Zahera - The Beasts
• Ramón Barea - Lullaby
• Fernando Tejero - Prison 77
• Jesús Carroza - Prison 77

This is Luis Zahera's second win in this category at the Goyas. He also won for Rodrigo Soroyen's film The Candidate (2018)

Best supporting actress

• Marie Colomb - The Beasts
• Carmen Machi - Piggy
• ★ Susi Sánchez - Lullaby
• Penélope Cruz - On The Fringe
• Ángela Cervantes - La Maternal

We always love it when an Almodóvar repertory player wins something. Susi Sánchez has been in four Almodóvars to date: Pain and Glory, Julieta, I'm So Excited!, and The Skin I Live In. Sánchez previously won at the Goyas in lead actress for Sunday's Illness (2018).

Best new actor

• Albert Bosch - Alcarràs
• Jordi Pujol Dolcet - Alcarràs
• Mikel Bustamante - Lullaby
• Christian Checa - On The Fringe
• ★ Telmo Irureta - The Rite Of Spring

Irureta is an actor with cerebal palsy and he won for a film about a man who hires a sexual assistant. In his much-applauded acceptance speech he said "people with disabilities also exist and we also fuck." 

Best new actress

PIGGY © Magnet Releasing

• Anna Otín - Alcarràs
• ★ Laura Galán - Piggy
• Luna Pamies -El agua
• Valèria Sorolla - The Rite Of Spring
• Zoe Stein - Mantícora

Galan is the star of the horror film Piggy which Claudio raved about right  here. 

Best original score

• ★ Olivier Arson - The Beasts
• Aránzazu Calleja, Maite Arroitajauregi “Mursego” - Irati
• Iván Palomares - Las niñas de cristal
• Fernando Velázquez - God’s Crooked Lines
• Julio de la Rosa - Prison 77

Best original song

• ’En los márgenes’ by Eduardo Cruz, María Rozalén - On The Fringe
• ’Izena duena bada’ by Aránzazu Calleja, Maite Arroitajauregi “Mursego”, Paul Urkijo Alijo - Irati
• ’Un paraíso en el sur’ by Paloma Peñarrubia Ruiz, Vanesa Benítez Zamora - La vida chipén
• ★ ’Sintiéndolo mucho’ by Joaquín Sabina, Leiva - Sintiéndolo mucho
• ’Batalla’ by Joseba Beristain - Unicorn Wars

Best production supervision

• Alcarràs
• The Beasts
• Piggy
• Lullaby
• ★ Prison 77

Best cinematography

• Alcarràs
• ★ The Beasts
• Lullaby
• Official Competition
• Prison 77

Best Costume Design

PRISON 77

• The Beasts
• God's Crooked Lines
• Irati
• La Piedad
• ★  Prison 77
• Valley of the Dead

Prison 77 which won five craft Goyas is a thriller about a young accountant on trial for embezzlement in the 1970s

Best editing

• Alcarràs
• ★ The Beasts
• Lullaby
• Prison 77
• One Year, One Night

Best art direction

• Alcarràs
• The Beasts
• La Piedad
• Crooked Lines
• ★ Prison 77

Best sound

• Alcarràs
• ★ The Beasts
• Cinco lobitos
• Prison 77
• One Year, One Night

Best special effects

• 13 exorcismos
• The Beasts
• Irati
• Malnazidos
• ★ Prison 77

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• The Beasts
• God's Crooked Lines
• La Piedad
• Piggy
• ★ Prison 77

Best animation feature

• Black is Beltza II: Ainhoa
• Inspector Sun y la maldición de la viuda negra
• Los demonios de barro (Os demos de barro)
• Tadeo Jones 3. La tabla esmeralda
• ★ Unicorn Wars

Best animated short 

• Amanece la noche mass larga
• Amarradas
• ★  Loop
• La prima cosa
• La primevera siempre vuelve

Best fictional short

• ★ Arquitectura emocional 1959
• Chaval
• Chords
• La entrega
• Sorda

Best documentary

• A Las Mujeres De España. María Lejárraga
• The Yellow Ceiling
• ★ Labordeta, Un Hombre Sin Más
• Oswald. El Falsificador
• Sintiéndolo Mucho

Best documentary short 

• Dancing with Rosa
• La Gabia
• ★ Maldita, A Love Song to Sarajevo
• Memoria
• Trazos del alma

Best Latin American film

• 1976 - Manuela Martelli
• ★ Argentina, 1985 - Santiago Mitre
• La Jauría - Andrés Ramírez Pulido
• Prayers for the Stolen - Tatiana Huezo
• Utama - Alejandro Loayza Grisi

After winning the Globe and the Goya, it's clear people really dig this courtroom drama from Argentina. We'd call it a threat to win the Oscar if the Academy hadn't just gone so totally wild for All Quiet on the Western Front to the tune of nine nominations. 

Best European Film

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD © Neon

• Belfast - Kenneth Branagh
• The Hand Of God - Dios de Paolo Sorrentino
• ★ The Worst Person In The World - Joachim Trier
• Lost Illusions - Xavier Giannoli
• Playground - Laura Wandel

It's deja vu since four of the five of pictures were a part of Oscar season last year. Playground was a finalist for Best International Feature while The Hand of God and The Worst Person in the World were both nominees, and Belfast was an Oscar winner (Best Original Screenplay). The odd film out is France's big César winner from last year, the costume drama Lost Illusions.  

International Goya

• ★ Juliette Binoche

Queen!

Comments

[Ji miesy]

Spanish movies I haven't seen yet Sonic exe. Maybe after this article I should see them, will see the difference.

[juanM]

Spaniard here! Actually Nathaniel, the voting body selecting Spain’s Oscar submission is pretty much the same one handling these awards; which makes Alcarras complete shutout much more surprising…

The most probable cause would be that As Bestas was released later and still is a huge in cinemas whereas Alcarras is nowhere to be found..

[Peggy Sue]

The tide has changed again for Carla Simón. She also lost for Summer 93 at the very last minute to a forgettable tv-movie. At least The Beasts is good (Marina Foïs is the MVP).

I don't expect any Catalan movie to win big in Spain after the failed declaration of independence.

[Arnaud Trouvé]

Thanks for covering the Goyas! I watched them live on Friday and was thrilled for Denis!
Typo : the director of "As Bestas" is named Rodrigo Sorogoyen, not Soroyen.

[emm apredovic]

Please accept my gratitude for writing about the Goyas. On Friday, I watched them both live and was overjoyed for Denis.
Rodrigo Sorogoyen, not Soroyen, is the film's director. drift boss

[Harmodio Harmodio]

Peggy Sue

Carla Simon won the Goya for Best New Director for Summer 1993. That year The Bookshop won Best Film directed by Isabel Coixet..

"In Spain's case it is the same Academy though we'll assume that it's a subgroup within the group as the entire voting body surely isn't voting four months early and then voting again. "

Actually the entire Spanish Film Academy votes. First to choose the shortlist (or Top 3) and then to choose the film that will represent Spain at the Oscars.
In the case of Alcarràs, I think that the triumph as Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival made the Spanish Film Academy think that it would be very popular at the Oscars. When this did not happen and the movie was not even on the shortlist, they no longer needed to support Alcarràs and there As bestas came out victorious.
It would not be the first time that this has happened at the Goyas.

[trados]

Let's tell the truth. Alcarrás is an awful mockumentary (as Summer 93 was) that we don't know how it could win the Berlin Bear. The Beasts is the highest rated film on Filmaffinity in 2022. A great movie and a great missed opportunity. Luis Zaheras could have been nominated as a supporting actor.