"Blancanieves" and "The Impossible" Top Goya Awards in Madrid

Actress Maribel Verdú with Goya

According to "Fox News Latino," Javier Bardem was smiling happily Sunday night in Madrid at the Goya Awards, Spain's national film awards, considered to be the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars.

Bardem not only took home a statuette for a documentary he narrated, “Sons of the Clouds: The Lost Colony,” which looks at how colonization of the Western Sahara has left nearly nearly 200,000 people living in refugee camps, He spoke out about human rights in the Sahara. His wife Penélope Cruz, who accompanied him and was nominated for best actress, is expecting their second child.

His mother Pilar also attended. She is an award winning actress in her own right. Two days later, Bardem and many other actors, etc., were accused by a government spokesman of not paying taxes.

"Blancanieves" received the Goya for best motion picture and nine other awards. Writer-director Pablo Berger’s black-and-white fairy tale is a silent retelling of the "Snow White" story, but it is set in Seville in the 1920s, and the protagonist is an Andalusian female bullfighter.

Actress Maribel Verdú (“Blancanieves”) bested Naomi Watts ("The Impossible"), Verdú taking home a best actress Goya for her portrayal of the cruel stepmother. Paco Delgado, who is nominated for an Academy Award in the costume category for “Les Miserables,” received a Goya award for his costumes for “Blancanieves,” especially for Verdú’s character.

“Blancanieves” also captured a Goya for best original score and best original song, but there was no Goya for writer-director Pablo Berger. "Blancanieves" is not nominated for the Best Foreign Language film Oscar, either.

"The Impossible" is an official Spain production directed by Juan Antonio Bayona who captured the Goya for best director instead of Berger. Bayona also twisted his leg during the ceremony, and it required medical attention. "The Impossible" won five Goya statuettes mostly for technical endeavors. Bayona directed "The Orphanage" in 2007.

Also, we would be remiss if we did not send congratulations to  "Beautiful" José Sacristán on his first Goya win! 

The Big Winner

List of most winners:

Best Motion Picture -"Blancanieves";
Director - Juan Antonio Bayona for "The Impossible";

Actor - Jose Sacristán for "The Dead Man and Being Happy"; 

Actress - Maribel Verdú for "Blancanieves";

Original Screenplay - Pablo Berger for "Blancanieves";

Adapted Screenplay - Javier Barreira, Gorka Magallon, Ignacio del Moral, Jordi Gasull and Neil Landau for "Tad, The Lost Explorer";

Supporting Actor - Julian Villagran for "Grupo 7";

Supporting Actress - Candela Pena for "Una Pistola en Cada Mano" (A Pistol in Each Hand);
Animated Feature Film - "The Adventures of Tadeo Jones";

Documentary Film - "Sons of the Clouds, The Last Colony" ("Hijos de las Nubes, La Ultima Colonia");

Honorary Goya - Concha Velasco;

Production Design - Sandra Hermida Muniz for "The Impossible";

Artistic Director - Alain Bainee For "Blancanieves";

Photography - Kiko de la Rica for "Blancanieves";

Special Effects - Pau Costa and Felix Berges for "The Impossible";

Costumes - Paco Delgado for "Blancanieves";

Editing - Bernat Vilaplano and Elena Ruiz for "The Impossible";

Sound - Peter Glossop, Marc Orts, Oriol Tarrago for "The Impossible";

Original Score - Alfonso Villalonga for "Blancanieves";

Original Song - "No Te Puedo Encontrar" from "Blancanieves";

European Film - "Untouchable" (France);

Makeup and Hair - Sylvie Imbert and Fermin Galan for "Blancanieves";

New Actor - Joaquin Nunez for "Grupo 7";
New Actress - Macarena Garcia for "Blancanieves";
New Director - Enrique Gato for "Tad, The Lost Explorer".

Thank you to El País English and Fox News Latino.

THE CANNES AFTERGLOW

The Cannes Film Festival (CFF) wrapped 23 May. Scroll down for my post of the top winners, 24 May. Since then, there have been further discussions about them.

The world-wide economic slowdown impacted Cannes this year. There were far fewer yachts, stars, press, and attendees. In the U.S., film critics are considered a luxury, and many newspapers have cut then from their staff. That is not true in Europe. For example, a newspaper in France, even though it may be experiencing a financial slowdown, will not ever think of cutting its film critic.

Biggest disappointment among the films in competition was Ang Lee's, TAKING WOODSTOCK. John Powers says the movie is “dinky”. Others made comments such as, “. . . highly anticipated, yet underwhelming.” Powers feels it is not very good cinematically, and probably should not have been in the Festival. He says it is fun to watch, and thinks Cannes accepted it because the Festival turned down BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2006). Judging by the Jury picks, this could have been the Festival for Lee’s LUST, CAUTION (2007).

The biggest surprise about a film that did not get an award at the Festival is Jane Campion's BRIGHT STAR. It received great reviews by critics viewing the film at the Festival. Apparently, it did not impress the Jury. Powers dubbed this years Cannes Festival, a Festival of Violence and Extremes.

The most deliberately provocative movie is Lars von Trier’s ANTICHRIST. Entertainment Weekly’s critic pulled no punches when he wrote, “Scenes of sexual mutilation in this gruesome story of a couple in [marital] hell elicited involuntary groans and then boos.” Most of the other critics left out “involuntary,” adding jeers, foot pounding, and many leaving the theater.

It has been widely reported that Trier suffered a bout of deep depression before embarking on this film. Despite the huge outcry against the film, Austrian Charlotte Gainsbourg won Best Actress for her role.

There was much buzz about Heath Ledger’s final performance in Terry Gilliam’s THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS, which screened out of competition. As usual, the critics didn’t get the film at all. They seldom get a Gilliam movie, but many die-hard fans do. When Ledger died about halfway through the filming, the role was recast to have Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell portray "physically transformed versions" of Tony.

No one else has speculated on this but I am going to. Could the Joker role followed by the mysterious stranger Tony in this “the Devil will have his due, if I don’t undo my mistakes” movie, coupled with Ledger’s recent divorce, and drug use, all have united to seal Ledger’s fate? It is the Doctor’s daughter, Valentina, who is in peril because of what her father has done, and Ledger had a young daughter. Just speculating.

Most critics were kind to Pedro Almodóvar’s latest with Penélope Cruz, BROKEN EMBRACES, praising her performance, but lukewarm to the movie. Poor Penélope had a bad cold, or flu, and missed most of the festivities.

Almodóvar and Lee are losing their mojo, according to the majority of the critics. Perhaps, both need to take a break to unwind and recharge.

On the other hand, critics and viewers generally praised Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, which is the name of a gang slaughtering Nazis. Powers calls it an amazing film because it takes us back to the 1960s WW II Nazi movies, with glimpses reminding one of the TV show, Hogan’s Heroes, but BASTERDS is 100 times more violent. Brad Pitt stars, but Australian Christopher Waltz as a "Jew hunter" in Nazi Germany, won Best Actor for the role, stealing Pitt’s thunder.


Michael Haneke ***** Christopher Waltz ***** Charlotte Gainsbourg

As to the winner, award-winning Austrian writer/director Michael Haneke's black and white drama, THE WHITE RIBBON (Das Weisse Band, Austria), basically little negative has been written about this stark film, which won both the FIPRESCI Prize and the Golden Palm. In an over-baring patriarchal society, strange and brutal things happen at a rural school in northern 1913 Germany just prior to WW I, which seem to be ritual punishments. How will this affect the school system, and will what happens at school and in the community sew the seeds for fascism?

Haneke's THE PIANO TEACHER (La pianiste, 2001) vaulted him onto the world cinema scene. That award-winner was followed by another critically acclaimed movie, HIDDEN (Caché, 2005), winning the FIPRESCI Prize, and a Best Director for Haneke.

At the Munich Film Festival on 3 July, Haneke will be honored by his peers with the CineMerit Award. Munich Festival kicks off on 26 June and runs until 4 July. I look for THE WHITE RIBBON to do extremely well in Munich, the beautiful city with a sinister past.

To help you wrap the afterglow of Cannes, here are some great links:
1. John Powers, "On the Ground at Cannes, " Part I - Fresh Air, PBS, Tuesday, 26 May.
2. John Powers, "On the Ground at Cannes, " Part II - Fresh Air, PBS, Wednesday, 27 May.
3. “Violence Reaps Rewards at Cannes Festival,” Manohla Dargis, The New York Times, 25 May.
4. ”The Ballyhooed, the Magical and All that Mutilation: Cannes ‘09 Winds Down,“ Eric Kohn, Indiwire, 24 May [The link is wrong, but works as 06].

I can hardly wait for next year.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE Tops 81st Oscars® with Eight

Patel and Pinto in SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

The movie that I tagged as the possible "little movie that could," in September, did. The cast and crew will be taking eight golden statuettes back to the U.K., or India. It won best picture, and the best director went to Danny Boyle. There were honors for best cinematography, sound mixing, film editing, and adapted screenplay. Musically, A.R. Rahman received the best original score and best song ("Jai Ho") Oscars.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON took home three expected ones: art direction, makeup and visual effects. THE DARK KNIGHT and MILK each garnered two.

Heath Ledger was posthumously awarded best supporting actor as the Joker in DARK KNIGHT, and the movie received one technical award for sound editing.

MILK's Sean Penn was named best actor for his role as Harvey Milk, and Dustin Lance Black's original screenplay received an Oscar.

Winning actresses Winslet and Cruz

Kate Winslet and Penelope Cruz each finally won acting Oscars. Winslet was named best actress in a leading role as a former Nazi with many secrets in THE READER, and Penelope Cruz was named best supporting actress as the ex-wife in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. DOUBT and FROST/NIXON were shutout.



Oscars also went to:
Best Animated Feature - WALL-E
Best Costumes - THE DUCHESS - Michael O'Connor
Best Documentary Feature - MAN ON WIRE
Best Documentary Short - SMILE PINKI
Best Live Action Short - SPIELZEUGLAND (Toyland)
Best Foreign Language Film - DEPARTURES, (Okuribito, Japan), dir. Yojiro Takita.

For the list of nominees and winners see the link on the right sidebar, "81st Oscar Nominations & Winners." The link will remain until the next awards.

I have watched the Academy Awards for more years than I will admit to, and the 81st presentation last night is the best one I have ever seen. For a decade the annual event's viewer percentage has been gradually declining. Therefore, this was a year of change for the Oscar Gala, too.

Before a couple of unfortunate personal incidents, I had planned to post about the changes for the Gala. Almost everyone in the administrative and talent heads at the Academy are no longer there. Last night it was announced that President Sid Ganis had served his last year and would be leaving.

So, good show Academy! Host Hugh Jackman was able to showcase his varied talents and do so with class. The Humanitarian Award was accepted by Jerry Lewis with a short and sincere acceptance speech. The set was spectacular. The proscenium box was gone, inviting the audience in, especially by moving the orchestra out of the pit onto the expanded stage.

Madonna Warmly Received at Traverse City FF - WRAP

AWARDS PRESENTED!
Find them all on my Film Festivals Page (direct link to full list).

Sorry, haven't found out which ball cap Michael is wearing today. Too much partying, I guess!

Actress Christine Lahti, New Board Member

Madonna, and her documentary, I AM BECAUSE WE ARE, were warmly received this evening at a screening at the Traverse City (MI) Film Festival, accoring to the AP. The movie concerns orphans in Malawi, the African country where she and her husband Guy Ritchie adopted a son. Proceeds from the screening will go to a foundation that helps Malawian orphans.

Madonna was accompanied by the movie's director Nathan Rissman and her daughter Lourdes, 11. Michael Moore shared the stage with Madonna before the screening, and it was a mutual admiration society between the two Michigan natives. Read a full AP article by clicking the title of this post.

Last week, Michael sent an e-mail proclaiming this year's festival's opening night the best one ever, even though there were thunder storms. He reported the on-stage introduction of two new board members for the TCFF - - Oscar-winning actress and Michigan native Christine Lahti, and acclaimed Italian director and TCFF-fave Sabina Guzzanti.

Rumors are flying again that Spanish actors Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz (see previous post) will soon announce an engagement. They co-star in Woody Allen's latest movie, and Festival opener, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA (official site). The couple first met on the set of Bigas Luna's 1992 movie JAMON JAMON (Ham, Ham), but only began dating after reuniting onscreen for Allen's movie, which opens in the U.S. 15 August. Trivia: Did you know the working title was "Midnight in Barcelona?"

According to Michael, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, "was a huge hit - - smart, funny, sexy, and intended for an adult audience that is rarely served these days with smart, funny, and sexy films. What a joy! Ok, who wants to go to Barcelona?!"

Answer - - I do, Michael. I haven't been there since 1998, and I am really home sick for that wonderful city, which really gets going about midnight, and my friends who live there and one, the aforementioned Bigas Luna, who has since moved. Most of them are in the Spanish movie business - - producers, writers, directors, actors, etc. I always try to include a visit to Madrid to see my other cinephile friends. How about it, Michael, are you game? Click.

Back to the Festival, there is a bidding war going on to determine which ball cap Michael will wear this year - - Michigan State University or the University of Michigan? He reports that at the end of the opening night festivities, MSU offered the most for the night. Which one will ultimately prevail? I will update this post with the festival wrap. So, y'all come back now, and y'all will know.

For previous posts about Traverse City FF, click the Traverse City label at bottom of this post.

Woody Allen's Salute to Barcelona at Cannes

In the city of Barcelona, actresses Rebecca Hall, Patricia Clarkson and Scarlett Johansson experience the creations of its famous architect, Antoni Gaudi, as they stand on the roof of his Casa Milá. His famous church, the Familia Segrada (Sacred Family), is far right.


Woody Allen's latest movie, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, filmed in the Catalonian city of Barcelona, Spain, is considered by some to be Allen's homage to that city, as MANHATTAN (1979) was to New York City.

It is also a homage to Spanish actress Penélope Cruz, nominated for an Oscar® in the best actress category for her role in Pedro Almodóvar's VOLVER (Return, 2006). Allen says the moment he saw her in that movie, he decided he had to make a movie with her. Yep. The guy still has it!

BARCELONA stars Javier Bardém with Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Rebecca Hall, and Patricia Clarkson. This could be one of Allen's best sex fantasies yet. I get excited just thinking about seeing the movie, as well as scenes from my beloved city, Barcelona, which I am not now able to visit as much as I would like.

The movie premieres at the Cannes International Film Festival next month, screening out of competition. The scheduled U.S. opening is 29 August. For more about Cannes, see link on right sidebar to my Film Festivals Page. For much more about Bardém, click the link for my Foreign Movies Page.