Film No. 28 (2022) April 4th. 6.40 PM Cinema 1. LUNA, Leederville.
"My wife says she needs air. What should I do? Go and buy her a bottle of Fu*king oxygen? "(Boss Blanco listens to trusted employee and friend Miralles talk of his marriage problems).
Is there an actor with a more assured presence on screen than Javier Bardem? For me he is in the top echelon of international performers. He draws a crowd and this goes a long way to why The Good Boss is such an engaging, if slightly long, morality tale. It was in fact Spain's first choice, in front of Almodóvar's PARRALELL MOTHERS, for the 2022 Oscars.
In LOVING PABLO (2017), Writer/Director Fernando Leon de Aranoa never quite found the vehicle to unleash all of Bardem's talents. Here, in Julio Blanco (Bardem), the owner of a world reputed scales producing company, he has created a man that grows on us like a ticklish skin irritation which soon becomes a full body rash. Aranoa has written a film that shines a light on the Blancos' of the world. He is warning us to be on the look out.
Blanco has power. On the surface we meet a man who uses his power to create a work environment all his employees can be proud of. He sells scales, Aranoa alerts us that something is slightly askew via the model scales at the factory entrance. Blanco inherited this shiny company, he didn't build it. His focus is on winning shiny things (awards of excellence) to prove his worth. THE GOOD BOSS gives us the opportunity to spend a week with him (each day is a chapter) to prove how dangerously superficial Blanco really is. Maybe we are encountering or have previously encountered a Blanco, you'll soon know!
So did Aranoa get the balance right here? Initially I thought not. His script, to my eyes, played lightly on themes of lying, adultery and violence (to name a few), considering the impact of the concluding themes. But on reflection (2 days of gestation) Fernando Leon got it just right. The final 20 seconds tip the scales perfectly. 10GUMS.
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