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José Luis Garci

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José Luis Garci
Born
José Luis García Muñoz

(1944-01-20) 20 January 1944 (age 80)
Madrid, Spain
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active1977–present

José Luis García Muñoz (born 20 January 1944), known professionally as José Luis Garci, is a Spanish film director, producer, critic, TV presenter, screenwriter and author. He earned worldwide acclaim and his country's first Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for Begin the Beguine (1982). Four of his films, including also Sesión continua (1984), Asignatura aprobada (1987) and El abuelo (1998), have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, more than any other Spanish director. His films are characterized for his classical style and the underlying sentimentality of their plots.

Early life and work

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Born in 1944 in a humble family from Asturias. After completing a pre-university course, Garci began working as an administrative assistant in a bank. His love for cinema from an early age led him to pursue filmmaking as a career. At age twenty he began writing reviews for a number of film magazines such as: Signos, Cinestudio, Aun and Resena, winning an award in 1968 from the Circulo de Escritores Cinematograficos for his work as film critic.

At the same time, he wrote his first literary works, science fiction stories like : Bibidibabibidibú, Adam Blake, and La Gioconda está triste. He also published the essay: Ray Bradbury humanista del futuro and an article about science fiction films in the Encyclopedia Buru-La.

In 1969 he became involved in scriptwriting, receiving his first screen credits for Antonio Giménez Rico The Cronicón (The Chronicle) (1970).

Between 1972 and 1977 he scripted five more films: León Klimovsky La casa de las chivas (The House of the goats); Pedro Olea No es bueno que el hombre esté solo (1972), (A Man Shouldn't be Alone); Eloy de la Iglesia Una gota de sangre para morir amando, (1973) (A drop of blood to die loving); Antonio Drove Mi mujer es muy decente dentro de lo que cabe (1974) o Roberto Bodegas Vida conyugal sana (1973)(Healthy Married Life) and Los nuevos españoles (1974)(New Spaniards). During this same period, Garci also wrote the made for T.V film La Cabina (1972)(The Cabin) directed by Antonio Mercero. He then directed his first short films: !Al Futbol! (!To Football!) Mi Marilyn, (My Marilyn) (both 1975) and Tiempo de gente acobardada (People Cowed Time) (1976).

Feature films

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In 1977, José Luis Garci directed his first feature film Asignatura pendiente (Unfinished Business) from a script by Gonzalez Sinde, a love story between an old pair of lovers which runs parallel to the social and political changes lived in Spain after the fall of Francisco Franco's regime. The film was well received by critics and audiences, becoming the most successful representative of the Spanish film of the generation of the Transition from dictatorship to democracy who saw themselves in a social and political limbo. A simple story of an amorous seduction by the film's hero is set around a series of topical references to a generation of Spaniards born in the immediate post-civil war period whose frustrations and nostalgia are embodied in the film's protagonist. Gaci took his narrative cues from the visual patterns followed in the traditional Hollywood narrative.

Garci second film Solos en la madrugada (Alone in the Dark) (1978) became skilled tackling progressive social themes intended for an audience interested neither in elite art cinema nor in the popular style of most Spanish comedies. He used this same pattern in his third film, Las verdes praderas (The Green Meadows) (1979), in which heavy sentimentality, a constant in his films, became more apparent.

The director changed gears with El Crack (1981), in which he used the figure of the hard boiled detective in a story inspired by the novels of Dashiell Hammett, to whom the film is dedicated, and employing elements of the American film noirs of the 1930s and 40s giving it a Spanish flavor. The formula worked so well that two years later Garci made a sequel, El crack II (1983).

Between this two films, Garci made his most emblematic work Volver a empezar, (Begin to Beguine) (1982), a sentimental story of an aging writer who returns to Spain after many years in exiled following the civil war. The film was the first Spanish motion picture to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[1]

Sesión continua (Double Feature), (1984, which also received an Academy Award nomination, and Asignatura aprobada (Course Completed, 1987) gave emphasis to sentimentality. Canción de cuna (Cradle Song, 1994), a film adaptation of the sentimental Gregorio Martinez Sierra play. Garci's subsequently films include La herida luminosa (The Wound of Light, 1997), and El abuelo (The Grandfather, 1998), which was Spain's submission for the Best Foreign Film category of the Academy Awards, getting the final nomination.

Recently, Garci directed Una historia de entonces (You're the One, 2000), Historia de un beso (Story of a Kiss, 2002)), Tiovivo c. 1950 (2004), Ninette (2005), Luz de domingo (2007), Sangre de mayo (2008) and Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days (2012). In addition to filmmaking, he is a popular television and radio sportscaster in his homeland.

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Director Writer Producer Editor Notes
1977 Asignatura Pendiente Yes Yes No No
1978 Alone in the Dark Yes Yes No No
1979 Las verdes praderas Yes Yes No No
1980 Viva la Clase Media No Yes Yes No
1981 El Crack Yes Yes Yes No
1982 Volver a Empezar Yes Yes Yes No Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film winner, 1982
1983 El Crack II Yes Yes No No
1985 Bras Fe Fer No No Executive Yes
1984 Sesión continua Yes Yes Yes No Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee
1987 Asignatura Aprobada Yes Yes Yes No Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee
1988 El Tesoro No Yes Executive No
1994 Canción de cuna Yes Yes Yes Yes
1997 La herida luminosa Yes Yes Yes No
1998 El Abuelo Yes Yes Yes No Academy Award Best Foreign Language Film nominee
2000 Una historia de entonces Yes Yes Yes No European Film Academy Best European Director nominee
2002 Historia de un beso Yes Yes Yes Yes
2003 Hotel Danubio No No Yes Yes
2004 Tiovivo c. 1950 Yes Yes Yes Yes
2005 Ninette Yes Yes Yes No
2007 Luz de Domingo Yes Yes Yes Yes
2008 Sangre de Mayo Yes Yes Yes Yes
2012 Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days Yes Yes Yes Yes
2019 El Crack Cero Yes Yes Yes Yes

Writer only

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Year Title Notes
1966 Las últimas horas Uncredited
1967 Los chicos de Peru
1969 Las nenas del mini-mini Uncredited
1970 El Cronicón
1972 La casa de las chivas
1973 No es bueno que el hombre esté solo
Una gota de sangre para morir amando
Ceremonia sangrienta Uncredited
1974 Vida conyugal sana
Los nuevos españoles
1975 Mi mujer es muy decente, dentro de lo que cabe
La mujer es cosa de hombres
1976 La noche de los cien pajaros
1998 Yerma

Producer only

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Year Title Notes
1985 Extramuros
1986 La gran comedia
1987 ¡Biba la banda!
1989 El río que nos lleva Executive producer
1992 Las cadenas del deseo
1995 Elisa, de Jean Backer
1997 La furia Associate producer
Momentos robados
1999 La venganza Associate producer
Un homo perbene
Shacky Carmine
2000 Cóndor cux
Yoyes Executive producer
Érase otra vez
Leo
2002 Nowhere
2003 La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón Uncredited

Sources

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  • Emotion pictures. El cine de José Luis Garci, foreword by José Luis Garci, Notorious Ediciones, Madrid, 2018; ISBN 978-84-15606-62-8
  • Benavent, Francisco María, Cine Español de los Noventa, ediciones Mensajero, 2000; ISBN 84-271-2326-4
  • D'Lugo, Marvin: Guide to the Cinema of Spain, Greenwood Press, 1997; ISBN 0-313-29474-7
  • Stone, Rob, Spanish Cinema, Pearson Education, 2002; ISBN 0-582-43715-6
  • Torres, Augusto, Diccionario del cine Español, Espasa Calpe, 1994; ISBN 84-239-9203-9

References

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  1. ^ "The 55th Academy Awards (1983) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2013-10-13.
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