Round 7 for Penelope & Pedro with "Parallel Mothers"

by Nathaniel R

Given the elegaic tone of Pedro Almodóvar's brilliant autobiographical Pain & Glory (2019) we worried that it might be his last film. We're so pleased to be feeling paranoid about that now. The 70 year-old master is already writing again or perhaps has finished writing something new. And not just one new project, but three! His next feature (which will shoot in early 2021) is a melodrama called Parallel Mothers, which will star his muse Penélope Cruz. The film will follow the lives of two mothers who give birth on the same day but whose lives take different courses (no word yet on who will play the other mother or if this is a dual role for Cruz). This will be the director and actress's seventh collaboration...

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Spain's big mistake

by Cláudio Alves

Throughout the recent awards season, I wrote several pieces about the Best International Feature race, an Oscar category that's very dear to my heart. It's also a source of endless frustration for I am Portuguese and Portugal remains the country that holds the record for most submissions without getting a single Oscar nomination. To be fair, that's not always the Academy's fault. Sometimes, the choice submission is so mind-bogglingly misguided, it kills any hope of a nomination the minute it's announced. It's not always that the submitted films are lacking in quality, but, sometimes they're productions that were little seen outside of Portugal and received no buzz whatsoever.

This is by no means a strictly Portuguese problem, mind you. In fact, since we're celebrating the 2002 movie year, it seems like a good time to explore one of Spain's most misjudged bits of Oscar selection…

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Almodóvar reigns at the Goyas again

by Nathaniel R

You'll read a lot of headlines saying that Pain and Glory swept the Goyas but it's not technically true. Though it won big it lost the bulk of its craft competitions and won only two of its five acting nominations. Still there's plenty of reason to celebrate if you're an Almodóvar junkie like we are here at TFE. The master's self-reflection took home seven Goyas including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor for Antonio Banderas, who is of course also nominated at the Oscars. But Pain and Glory didn't have the night to itself. Each of the five Best Film nominees took home at least one prize with While at War, the latest from Alejandro Amenábar (The Others) clearly in runner up position as it won five categories including a win in Supporting Actor where it beat out both of the nominees from Pain & Glory.  And ,yes, the rumors are true: Pedro accidentally let it slip on the red carpet that Penelope Cruz would be presenting Best International Film at the Oscars in February. 

Full list of Goya winners and a few notes after the jump...

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FYC: "Pain and Glory" for Best Cinematography

by Cláudio Alves

Pedro Almodóvar might be known for his brilliant reds, but his latest and most autobiographical film starts in blue. Submerged in blue, as it happens. In the bottom of a swimming pool tiled in shades of cyan, we find our blue-clad protagonist, underwater, pensive as he is enveloped by diluted chlorine and the memories of a distant past. They are remembrances of maternal warmth and white linens drying in the sun, shots so beautiful they seem more real than the present life for which they are prologue. Color theory has its limitations, of course, and Almodóvar's brush is guided more by emotion than by dogmatic rules. José Luis Alcaine's photography follows the same logic…

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"Pain and Glory" big at the Goyas

by Nathaniel R

We remain nervous about the American awards prospects of Almodovar’s wonderfully moving 'i’m not dead yet but I kinda feel like it some times' autobiography, but at least in Spain, Pain & Glory is having a love-fest. This year the latest Almodóvar movie received 16 nominations, that's two more than even Volver got in its year. The Goya nominators did not spread the wealth. We're not sure if it was a weak year for Spanish cinema or if they just didn't look around much but the other two biggies, While at War and The Endless Trench, received 17 and 15 nominations respectively. 

 BEST FILM

• “Pain and Glory” (Pedro Almodóvar)
• “Out in the Open” (Benito Zambrano)
• “The Endless Trench” (Aitor Arregui, Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenaga)
• “Fire Will Come” (Oliver Laxe)
• “While at War” (Alejandro Amenábar)

You may recall that While at War was a finalist for Spain's Oscar submission this year...

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