"Why, Erica, Why?" Summer Movie Library Series: Goya's Ghosts

The movie is called “Goya’s Ghosts” – was I COMPLETELY wrong to expect the flick to actually focus on famous Spanish painter Francisco Goya. (Or at least the bean guy?)

Goya is merely a supporting player in the movie that bears his name (mostly wasting a lively performance by Stellan Skarsgard as the painter). Instead, the focus is on one of the artist’s muses (played by Natalie Portman) who is labeled a heretic, and a client of Goya’s (played by Javier Bardem) who also happens to be a prominent monk during the Spanish Inquisition.

Then again, the fact that this isn’t a Goya biopic is not all bad (it’s not like I was DYING to see a Francisco Goya biopic).

Director Milos Forman’s drama looks great and certainly deals with a compelling topic (maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think we’ve gotten THE great movie about the Spanish Inquisition) while finding a way to make it relevant to today’s audiences. In fact, the scene that addresses whether or not a confession acquired through torture is valid was probably a little too on-the-nose.

Unfortunately, the movie is also plagued by a general chintziness that should NOT be associated with the guy who made “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus.”

Bardem, for example, gives a solid performance as the complex, charismatic Lorenzo. However, I spent about 60% of his time onscreen wondering why a director would hire Bardem (probably Spain’s greatest actor) to play a Spanish character only to have him speak in heavily-accented English. Yes, I know the rest of the movie is in English, but English is CLEARLY not Bardem’s first language and he probably would’ve been more comfortable acting in Spanish. Hiring Javier Bardem to play a Spanish character while forcing him to speak English is kind of like buying a Porsche, but only using it to drive your kid to baseball practice - it’s kind of a waste.

At least Bardem came out ahead of Natalie Portman. Portman is effective during the scenes in which her character is brutally interrogated. However, she definitely falls into that American actor trap where they use the same vaguely European accent no matter where in Europe the character is supposed to be from (Angelina Jolie in “Alexander” is in this Hall of Fame). Later, Portman is asked to wear borderline-embarrassing old age makeup. Even more questionably, she plays a second role, turning up as her own character’s daughter. Let’s pause a second to get Erica’s reaction:

“That’s retarded.” – Erica.

I agree 100%.

Though the movie boasts some interesting characters (even the bad guys get a shot at being somewhat sympathetic) and “interesting” performances, “Goya’s Ghosts” ends up being a fine-looking wasted opportunity. The good news is that the great defining Spanish Inquisition movie is yet to be made, in case anybody’s interested in making a movie that’s not a remake, sequel or an adaptation of an old TV show.

Goya’s Ghosts…C+