Spanish-language film picks up 6 Oscar nominations

The Spanish-Mexican fantasy-thriller-horror-drama El laberinto del fauno fared exceptionally well at this morning's Academy Award nomination announcements, picking up six nominations including one for the best foreign-language film. That makes it the Spanish-language film of the year to see.

Also earning a major nomination was Madrid native Penélope Cruz, in the running for best actress for her role in the Spanish film Volver. And Mexican film director Alejandro Iñárritu, until now known primarily for his art-house hit Amores perros, was nominated as best director for the multilingual Babel, which also was nominated for best picture. And, yes, one of the languages in Babel is Spanish: Mexican star Adriana Barraza was nominated as best supporting actress for her role as a nanny.

El laberinto del fauno, marketed in the United States as Pan's Labyrinth, was on many critics' top-10 lists for 2006. El laberinto del fauno is set in the Spanish civil war and tells the story of young girl, Ofelia, who meets a faun who takes her on a journey to another world. In addition to being nominated as the best foreign-language picture (it was the only Spanish-language film so nominated), it also was nominated for art direction, cinematography, makeup, original score and original screenplay. The film was written and directed by Guillermo del Toro and stars Ivana Baquero as Ofelia.

Cruz is probably the best-known Spanish actress outside Spain. In the United States, she is known as one of the leading characters of Vanilla Sky, in which she co-starred with Tom Cruise. That film was the English-language remake of Abre los ojos, in which Cruz also co-starred. Most of her other films known to American audiences have been popular art-house fare: Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Woman on Top, Todo sobre mi madre and Belle epoque.

Both El laberinto del fauno and Volver have done reasonably well at the U.S. box office for foreign-language films. The former, in fact, went into wide release (609 theaters) last weekend, finishing seventh with a weekend gross of $4.5 million, bringing its U.S. box office total to almost $10 million. Volver hasn't been distributed as widely, appearing last weekend in 147 theaters, but has passed $7.5 million in total U.S. gross. Both movies should pick up additional viewers as Academy Award contenders.

Finally, another Spanish-language film, Éramos pocos, was nominated for best live-action short feature. A tale about a father and son living together, it can be seen at YouTube. Its English title, definitely not a translation of the Spanish title, is One Too Many.

Another live-action short-film nominee has a Spanish title, Binta y la gran idea, because it comes from Spain. But the film itself is in Dioula and French.

Have you seen any of these films? If so, please share your thoughts by clicking on the Comments link below (but no spoilers, please).