Goya's Ghosts | 
 enlarge | Actors: Bardem, Portman, Skarsgard
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $24.96
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Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 9500
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: COLD19810D
UPC: 043396198104
EAN: 0043396198104
ASIN: B00116GEJ8
Release Date: February 26, 2008
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Product Description
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 09/23/2008 Run time: 114 minutes Rating: R
Amazon.com
Even Milos Forman's most ardent supporters are sure to have mixed feelings about iGoya's Ghosts/i. As expected from the Oscar-winning director of iOne Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest/i, the production values are strong and the performances solid. Unfortunately, his fictional take on the life of subversive painter Francisco Goya (Stellan Skarsgard), circa the Spanish Inquisition, feels undercooked compared to previous issue-driven works, like iThe People vs. Larry Flynt/i. As in that film, censorship and hypocrisy take center stage. Co-written by Luis Bunuel scenarist Jean-Claude Carriere (iThat Obscure Object of Desire/i), iGoya's Ghosts/i concerns the painter's relationships with two subjects, Brother Lorenzo (Javier Bardem) and artist's model Ines (Natalie Portman). When Ines is suspected of practicing Judaism, she's tortured until she confesses, leading to her incarceration. With Goya's assistance, her family enlists Lorenzo to fight for her freedom, but to no avail. For his own transgressions, Lorenzo flees the country, while Ines lingers in prison. The story then skips ahead 15 years. Goya has since lost his hearing, Ines remains imprisoned, and a defrocked Lorenzo is living a life of leisure in France. After Napoleon invades Spain, the three are once again thrown into each other's orbit. Of the trio, Goya emerges as decency incarnate, Ines as a victim of religious fundamentalism, and Lorenzo as a man who found his conscience far too late to save anyone--least of all himself. The humor that bouyed iAmadeus/i might not have been appropriate in this case, but iGoya's Ghosts/i is a real downer. i--Kathleen C. Fennessy/i
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 What went wrong with this movie? November 28, 2008
Arthur H. Roach (Arlington, VA USA)
I kept thinking this was supposed to be a great movie. The performances are wonderful; the settings are sumptuous and astonishingly beautiful. But the story?? Was anyone watching? br /At the beginning of the movie, it seems that Goya himself is in trouble with the Inquisition for the prints from his "dark period." But nothing comes of it. It is never made clear why the beautiful young girl is really singled out for torture and permanent imprisonment. If it is hinted that she is intended to implicate someone else, it never happens. When the beautiful young girl is released from prison and is found by Goya, why does she never clean up? Stringy hair until the end. br /Many of the same problems as "Barry Lyndon." br /Sure. Watch "Goya's Ghosts." Sit back and enjoy the beauty; just don't try to figure it out.
Goya's Ghost October 24, 2008
Bob Cinema Critic
I really liked Goya's Ghost as I learned some insight of the Artist's life. It was a good period piece with suspense and drama in the storyline. I consider it a good film but not a great one. It was worth the price of the DVD.
MILOS FORMAN, OPUS 12 September 29, 2008
wdanthemanw (Geneva, Switzerland)
**** 2006. Written and directed by Milos Forman. The 1792-1812 period in Spain seen through the eyes of painter Francisco Goya. Don't expect here a biography of Goya, Milos Forman is only trying to demonstrate that the role of the artist can be but passive in history. In this perspective, GOYA'S GHOSTS is a very pessimistic film because we never have the feeling that Goya's interventions in order to save Ines may help the young woman. The production is gorgeous and the actors top-notch. Highly recommended.
 Hints of greatness, which ultimately disappoint September 8, 2008
Jess Newman (Boulder, CO USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
br /SPOILER WARNING (Do not read the last paragraph if you have not seen this movie or do not want to know what happens) br /Goya's Ghosts came highly recommended to me, and given Javier's fabulous performance in No Country For Old Men, I was sold. I bought it and eagerly popped it in. Unfortunately, I just couldn't buy the hype. Bardem is great, of course. This is just the type of devious role that he really breathes life into. Nearly every other actor, however, brings the film down. Natalie Portman, to start, is kind of a mixed bag. She plays a rather unremarkable young woman, who of course is Goya's heaven-sent muse. After being locked in a dungeon for years, she goes a little crazy and pasty, and this brings her overall performance in the film to a solid B as she imitates a broken jaw and a handful of psychoses. Then, she plays the DAUGHTER of her character, while they both are still alive, and goes back to plain old bland. I do wonder, however, if she has some kind of fetish for playing weird roles where they deform her (queen Amidala, V for Vendetta, perhaps others I can't remember...) br /Also Randy Quaid plays the King of Spain. He has a wonderful air of regality. No, not really. This is the guy who played the dad in Independence Day and Cousin Ed in the National Lampoon Vacation movies. He hasn't got a regal bone in his body, and he's nearly the WORST actor I could think of for a dramatic role (except for maybe... Natalie Portman?) br /Aside from this, the movie is just a little too wide in scope to be seen as an insular, complete story. It covers about 30 years and three generations in two hours, and kind of leaves each epoch a mess, with little or no sense of resolution. At the end of the film, Bardem's character is killed by the church for his rebellion and carted off through the streets of Spain while kids chase it, and a song that means roughly "oh, what a bad world, where a man hurts so bad he wants to kill himself" in Spanish plays. At that point, you realize that all the other stuff was just window-dressing and pretension of drama, while it was really an Inquisition-era No Country For Old Men, a film to give Javier Bardem a role that steals the show with little other reason for watching. The only other plus of this movie, beyond his acting, is the beautiful Spanish scenery and location design which simply cannot be beaten. Too bad, then, that most of the cast is less interesting than the backdrop.
 Compellingly unhappy. September 2, 2008
Alex Mitchell (Huntington Beach, Ca.)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Goya's Ghosts is the kind of film that I usually find depressing. I did not actually find this uplifting, but the movie itself makes a number of excellent points without being heavy handed. The Spanish Inquisition is portrayed here in all its horrific idiocy, but this is more than a cautionary "Don't let this happen again" tale. It is also less a biography or true history. It instead weaves a tapestry of images that give a feeling of Spain in the late 1700's. There are many moving moments contained here and not many are joyful. There are some images and sequences that are not for the faint hearted. Natalie Portman is very good throughout, though not always as convincing visually near the end. Stellan Skarsgard is marvelous throughout. I must say that I did enjoy this movie, but it is not happy. The end scene is very sad and yet a perfect conclusion to this story. I recommend it, but again remind you this is not a "date" film. Unless you are on a very strange date.
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