Penélope Cruz in Broken Embraces (Emilio Pereda & Paola Ardizzoni / El Deseo / Sony Pictures Classics) (top); Rachel Weisz in Agora (Mod Producciones) (middle); Soledad Villamil, Ricardo Darin in The Secret in Their Eyes (Sony Pictures Classics) (bottom)
The Spanish Academy's 2010 Goya Award nominations — that's Spain's Oscars — will be announced on Jan. 9. Among the potential nominees are Broken Embraces, director-screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar, actor Lluís Homar, actress Penélope Cruz, and supporting actress Blanca Portillo. In Broken Embraces, which has won a few awards from US critics' groups, Penélope Cruz plays a secretary/sex worker who becomes her wealthy boss' lover only to fall for a film director (Homar). Cruz has been touted as a potential best actress Oscar nominee, but this year her chances are better with the Spanish Academy.
Alejandro Amenábar's box-office hit Agora is another strong possibility in the best picture and best director categories. Starring Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz — a possible best actress Goya nominee — Agora is set in 4th-century Egypt, where a Christian slave (Max Minghella, Anthony Minghella's son) falls in love with his master, atheist philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria.
Juan José Campanella's political thriller The Secret of Her Eyes is a third possibility for best picture and best director, in addition to a quite likely best actor nod for Argentinean actor Ricardo Darín. Set in Buenos Aires, The Secret in Their Eyes chronicles the entangled attempts to find the murderer-rapist of a married woman. This Spanish-Argentinean co-production is Argentina's submission for the 2010 best foreign language film Academy Award.
What a great film the Campanella is. And what a fine performance by Darin. But at these Goyas, Best Actor is likeliest for Luis Tosar (Cell 211).