“The Impossible” remains, to my mind, one of this season’s biggest lost contenders. With a more focused campaign and an earlier release date, this visceral true-life survival story set against the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami could, I think, have gone over in a big way with Academy voters, reaping a lot more than a lone Best Actress nod for Naomi Watts. Anyway, spilt milk.
As it stands, the Spanish production’s biggest night of the season was always set to be its home country’s Goya Awards. Even there, however, the local box-office smash wound up ceding top honors to “Blancanieves,” Pablo Berger’s artful silent take on the Snow White story (yep, another one). The film, which I was charmed by at last year’s London Film Festival, was Spain’s submission for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, but didn’t make the Academy’s shortlist.
Overall, “Blancanieves” took 10 Goyas, including Best Picture, Best Actress for Maribel Verdu’s vampish Wicked Queen (beating Naomi Watts) and, oddly for a fairytale adaptation, Best Original Screenplay. In an interesting Oscar connection, it also took Best Costume Design for Paco Delgado, the Spanish designer nominated by the Academy for his work on “Les Miserables.” “The Impossible,” meanwhile, was compensated with Best Director for Juan Antonio Bayona, and a quartet of technical awards.
Full list of winners below:
Best Picture: “Blancanieves”
Best Director: Juan Antonio Bayona, “The Impossible”
Best Actor: Jose Sacristan, “The Dead Man and Being Happy”
Best Actress: Maribel Verdu, “Blancanieves”
Best Supporting Actor: Julian Villagran, “Grupo 7”
Best Supporting Actress: Candela Pena, “Una Pistola en Cado Mano”
Best Original Screenplay: “Blancanieves”
Best Adapted Screenplay: “The Adventures of Tadeo Jones”
Best Animated Feature: “The Adventures of Tadeo Jones”
Best Documentary: “Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony”
Best European Film (Non-Spanish): “The Intouchables”
Best Ibero-American Film: “Juan de los Muertos”
Best Cinematography: “Blancanieves”
Best Production Design: “The Impossible”
Best Costume Design: “Blancanieves”
Best Film Editing: “The Impossible”
Best Makeup and Hair: “Blancanieves”
Best Original Score: “Blancanieves”
Best Original Song: “No Te Puedo Encontrar” from “Blancanieves”
Best Sound: “The Impossible”
Best Special Effects: “The Impossible”
Best Artistic Direction: “Blancanieves”
Best New Actor: Joaquin Nunez, “Grupo 7”
Best New Actress: Macarena Garcia, “Blancanieves”
Best New Director: Enrico Gato, “The Adventures of Tadeo Jones”
Best Animated Short: “El Vendedor de Humo”
Best Live Action Short: “Aquel No Era Yo”
Best Documentary Short: “A Story for the Modlins”
Honorary Goya: Concha Velasco