Spanish candidate for Oscars named

SPAIN'S candidate for 'Best International Film' at the 2022 Oscars has been revealed – one that shows 'Bond villain' Javier Bardem as the 'perfect' business owner.

El Buen Patrón ('The Good Boss') stars the husband of Almodóvar Girl-turned-Hollywood legend Penélope Cruz, who is probably best known to non-Spanish-speaking cinema fans for being the 'baddie' in Daniel Craig's Skyfall.

Director Fernando León de Aranoa's drama will now join films from countries all over the world in the race to reach the nominee list and the chance to take home the coveted statuette at the 94th edition of the awards, due to be presented on March 27 next year.

Javier Bardem was actually competing with his own wife for the candidature – Penélope Cruz's lead rôle in cult director Pedro Almodóvar's Madres Paralelas ('Parallel Mothers') was one of the three pre-selected along with Marcel Barrena's Mediterráneo ('Mediterranean').

In total, 48 films were gunning for the top three selected by Spain's Cinematographic Arts and Sciences Academy; cast, directors and crew of 45 of them had their hopes dashed on September 14 when El Buen Patrón, Madres Paralelas and Mediterráneo were chosen; and it was announced this morning (Tuesday, October 5) that El Buen Patrón had made the cut.

The final choice was made by Irene Escolar, who won Best New Actress at the Goya Awards for her part in Un Otoño Sin Berlín ('An Autumn Without Berlin') and Ricardo Gómez, nominated for Best New Actor Goya for 1898. Los Últimos de Filipinas ('1898. The Last of the Philippines').

Just before opening the envelope revealing the candidate's name, Irene and Ricardo read extracts from the 1953 film by Luis García Berlanga and Juan Antonio Bardem, Esa Pareja Feliz ('That Happy Couple') as a tribute to National Spanish Film Day, which is tomorrow (Wednesday, October 6).

Strong candidates Spain will be up against in the running for the top-10 shortlist and, subsequently, the top-five list – the 'nominations' – include Colombia's Memoria ('Memory') by Apichatpong Weerasethakul; Germany's I'm Your Man by Maria Schrader; and South Korea's Escape from Mogadishu, by Ryoo Seung-wan.

Spain's Oscar career to date

Whether or not the fact that the Hollywood Academy chairman is a native Spanish-speaker – Mariano Barroso, who was present at the unveiling – will be of any help to León de Aranoa, Bardem and El Buen Patrón remains to be seen, but Spain has not won an Oscar for a film, actor, actress or director for many years.

Almodóvar already has two to his name for what is now known as Best International Film but was then called Best Foreign Language Film – for the 1999 tragi-comedy Todo Sobre Mi Madre ('All About My Mother'), with Cecilia Roth as a grieving mum who tracks down her late son's father, now living as a woman, and a 25-year-old Penélope Cruz as a nun dying from AIDS, and the oddly romantic Hable Con Ella ('Talk To Her'), from 2002, the synopsis of which would put most people off watching it but which actually turns out to be tender, captivating and intriguing against the odds.

He reached the semi-finals for his English-language short, The Human Voice, starring British-Australian actress Tilda Swinton, but did not go on to achieve a nomination.

Málaga-born Hollywood legend Antonio Banderas, 61, earned his first Oscar nomination for the 2020 awards for Almodóvar's semi-autobiographical Dolor y Gloria ('Pain and Glory'), but despite an extensive, multi-faceted career on two continents and in two languages that has now broken the 40-year barrier, Banderas still does not have a statuette and Spanish film fans believe he is long overdue for the award.

Banderas' nomination, and Almodóvar's own for Best Director and Best International Film, represented the first time Spain had been in the top five for an Oscar since 2005 for Mar Adentro ('The Sea Inside') – another one starring Javier Bardem, as paraplegic Raimon Sampedro, fighting for the right to die with dignity, in an adaptation of a true story.

Spain did earn an Oscar in the 2021 ceremony - Cantabria-born Sergio López-Rivera for 'Best Hair and Makeup' for 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom', achieved by an artist who has lived in Los Ángeles for nearly 35 years – and, in a manner of speaking, 'won' four Oscars in 2020 for the Galicia-based tinned potato crisp company Bonilla a la Vista, whose wares were clearly on display in several scenes in the South Korean black comedy Parasite.