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!