It did not set a record as with its 20 nominations, but “The good boss” left the Goya Awards on Saturday with the highest honors. Fernando León de Aranoa’s satire on the business world won six awards, including best film, director and original screenplay, as well as best actor for his star, Javier Bardem.
In “The Good Boss” Bardem plays Julio Blanco, a businessman who does everything possible to make his family business look pristine before an award for excellence is awarded.
“The first notes for this script are 11 or 12 years old. We were in the midst of a crisis and in the following years the successive labor reforms that were approved and so many years were spent on workers’ rights encouraged me to write this story,” said León de Aranoa upon receiving the trophy for best screenplay, referring to the reality that was lived in Spain a decade ago, which served as inspiration.
Bardem, meanwhile, thanked him “for writing a character so rich in nuance, so funny, and for letting me play him.” It is the sixth Goya for the actor, who thus closes a frantic week in which he was again nominated for an Oscar for his leading role in “Being The Ricardos” (“Ser los Ricardo”).
He also dedicated the award to his mother, Pilar Bardem, who passed away last year, and to his wife Penelope Cruz, “the woman I love, respect, admire and celebrate every day,” he said.
Cruz, who will also opt for the Oscar for best actress for “Parallel Mothers” by Pedro Almodóvar, was competing for the Goya for the same film but left empty-handed.
That recognition went to Blanca Portillo for her work in “Maixabel”, the film by Icíar Bollaín about the reunion between Maixabel Lasa and the murderer of her husband, Juan María Jáuregui, from the ETA gang. It is her first Goya after four nominations.
Between tears, and taking advantage of the proximity of Valentine’s Day, Portillo took advantage of his moment on the podium to declare his “unconditional love for Maixabel Lasa, for bringing light to the world, for making this world a better place, for fighting for it, for never give up.” Lasa, who was present at the Palau de las Arts in Valencia, responded by joining the audience’s applause.
Another Spanish artist nominated for an Oscar this week, the composer Alberto Iglesias, for the original music of “Madres paralleles”, was measured for the Goya for his score for “Maixabel”. The award went to Zeltia Montes, for “The good boss.”
“The mountain range of dreams”, by Chilean director Patricio Guzmán, was established as the best Ibero-American film, while the award for best European film went to “Druk” (“Another round”).
“He has dedicated half a century to telling the unusual story of a country like Chile,” Guzmán’s spokeswoman said on stage at the Palau de las Arts in Valencia. “It is an award for his career, it is also an award for the documentary (…) and, above all, it is an award for the gift that Patricio has always wanted to give to Chile: that the country does not forget.”
That “The good boss” was not going to have the great night that many pools presaged was evident in the category of supporting actor, in which three of its actors — Celso Bugallo, Fernando Arbizu and Manolo Solo — opted for a “big head” , as the statuette is called. It was obtained by the only actor not involved in the film, Urko Olazábal, experienced in the theater and teacher of other actors, for “Maixabel”.
The award for best supporting actress went to Nora Navas, who added her second Goya in a shortlist dominated by her companions in “Parallel Mothers”, for her role as the mother of a teenager in “Libertad”. The director of this film, Clara Roquet, won the award for best new director.
“The Laws of the Border” surprised us by winning five of the six awards for which it was eligible, including that of revelation actor for Chechu Salgado.
The film by Daniel Monzón, based on a novel of the same name by Javier Cercas, narrates the adventures of “Gafitas”, “Tere” and “Zarco”, three adolescent delinquents, and their robberies in the summer of 1978 in Girona, in the northeast from Spain. It also won the awards for best adapted screenplay (by the director and Jorge Guerricaechevarría), best costume design, artistic direction, and makeup and hairdressing.
The prize for the revelation actress went to María Cerezuela for “Maixabel”, in which she plays the role of the daughter of Portillo’s character. Like her veteran, she dedicated her Goya to María Jáuregui, whom she plays in the film.
Cate Blanchett, guest of honor at the great night of Spanish cinema as the first recipient of the International Goya from the Film Academy, received the honor from Penélope Cruz and Pedro Almodóvar, with whom she will start shooting a film soon.
“Thank you, that’s all I can say (in Spanish), but perhaps working with Pedro will improve my level of Spanish,” said the award-winning Australian actress, who praised the rich Spanish film culture, “with an influence that reaches all the world”.
In high school, a film by director Luis Buñuel “changed my way of seeing the world and since then I have been very attracted to Spanish audiovisual language,” he said.
In a reference to the difficulties that the film industry has gone through due to the pandemic, Blanchett said she felt “very proud of what we have created as a sector. We have found a creative way to move forward.”
Veteran actor José Sacristán received a recognition for his career, the Goya de Honor, almost a decade after having won the best actor for “The Dead and Being Happy.”
In a speech loaded with references to his agricultural origins in a town on the outskirts of Madrid, he was grateful to those who “with their trust in my work allow me to continue ploughing, planting and harvesting fruits like this (…) Thank you very much to the public, to all those men and women who every year, and it’s been a whopping 60 or so, either in a bunch or in a string, continue to buy my garlic”.
One of the most applauded musical performances of the so-called “reunion” gala, since it was held again with the public after last year’s solitary edition due to the pandemic, was that of Joaquín Sabina. Accompanied by Leiva on guitar, the singer-songwriter performed “Tan Joven y Tan Viejo” on his 73rd birthday.
The actress Verónica Echegui, who had four nominations as an actress, won her first Goya from the other side, as director of “Totem Loba”, chosen as best fiction short, a story based on a situation she experienced when she was young. She took advantage of the moment to recommend the viewing of her work to the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, who headed the institutional representation at the ceremony.
“Who prevents it”, by Jonás Trueba, won the award for best documentary film and “Valentina”, by Chelo Loureiro, for animated film.
In a ceremony that lasted more than three hours, marked by extensive acknowledgments, there was time for almost everything: from the request of a soundman from “Tres” to finance a script by his wife, to the emotion of the nominees for actor and revelation actress, to whom their families sent messages of encouragement in video.
