José Coronado, No Rest for the Wicked
Pedro Almodóvar didn’t have much luck at the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Goya Awards this evening in Madrid: Almodóvar’s The Skin I Live In won a total of four Goyas, but none for its director/writer. Starring Antonio Banderas as a plastic surgeon, Elena Anaya as his captive woman, and Jan Cornet as the good-looking young man whom the doctor blames for the death of his daughter, the sex-bending mystery melodrama won Goyas for Best Actress (Anaya), Best New Actor (Cornet), Best Original Music (Alberto Iglesias, his tenth Goya win), and Best Makeup/Hair. [Full list of Premios Goya winners/nominations.]
Instead of the internationally renowned (and BAFTA winner) The Skin I Live In, the 2012 Goyas’ big winner was Enrique Urbizu’s No habrá paz para los malvados / No Rest for the Wicked, the story of a murderous, corrupt cop. No Rest for the Wicked won Goyas for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (José Coronado), Best Original Screenplay (Urbizu and Michel Gaztambide — instead of Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris), Best Film Editing (Pablo Blanco), and Best Sound (Licio Marcos de Oliveira and Ignacio Royo-Villanova).
Other major Goya winners were Ignacio Ferreras‘ Wrinkles, winner for Best Animated Feature and Best Adapted Screenplay (Ferreras, Ángel de la Cruz, Paco Roca, Rosanna Cecchini) for its story set in a health-care facility for the elderly; the Spanish Civil War drama The Sleeping Voice’s Ana Wagener and María León as, respectively, Best Supporting Actress and Best New Actress; and Lluís Homar as Best Supporting Actor for the futuristic psychological drama Eva, which also won Goyas for Best Special Effects and for Best New Director Kike Maíllo.
The Best Feature Documentary was Isabel Coixet’s filmed interview with judge Baltasar Garzón, Listening to Judge Garzón. Garzón became the target of right-wingers in Spain and elsewhere after issuing an international warrant for the arrest of Chile’s former military dictator Augusto Pinochet and for considering pressing charges against former members of the George W. Bush government for condoning and abetting torture at Guantanamo. Additionally, he also declared as "crimes against humanity" the acts of brutality committed during Francisco Franco’s military regime. Earlier this month, Garzón was convicted by the Spanish Supreme Court for illegally wire-tapping the conversation of suspects with their lawyers.
Filmmaker Josefina Molina, 75, who has made a handful of shorts and feature films in the last four decades, was the Honorary Goya recipient. Molina, sick in bed with the flu, was unable to attend the ceremony.
And finally, Michel Hazanavicius‘ silent comedy-drama The Artist was the Best European Film, while Sebastián Borensztein’s Argentinean tale of prejudice and compassion, Un cuento chino / Chinese Take-Away, was the Best Foreign Film in the Spanish Language.
As for Pedro Almodóvar, he has had a troubled relationship with the Spanish Academy. As a writer-director, he has been nominated for a total of fifteen Goyas, winning twice as Best Director — for All About My Mother (1999) and Volver (2006) — and once for Best Original Screenplay, for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988). Even so, he resigned from the Academy in 2005 following the resounding defeat of Bad Education.
At the 2010 Goya Awards ceremony, Almodóvar attended as a surprise Best Picture presenter and was warmly received. He had been reluctant to go, but explained that Academy president Álex de la Iglesia finally convinced him to be a presenter by telling him, "You don’t like this [sort of] ceremony, but in about three weeks you’ll be in Hollywood presenting the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar." Almodóvar didn’t know how to respond to that. "And so, here I am."
Presenters at the 2012 Premios Goya ceremony included Victoria Abril, Belén Rueda, Eduardo Noriega, Carlos Saura, and Salma Hayek.