Goya in Bordeaux

Oh boya, Goya! Ken Russell's Goya in Bordeaux--oops, I'm sorry, Carlos Saura's Goya in Bordeaux is certainly a humdinger to look at; Saura and famed lenser Vittorio Storaro, who teamed with the director on 1998's impressive Tango, literally bring to life many of the artist's masterworks, which spring from their canvases with, well, turgidity. Francisco Rabal, as the aged great Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, toplines this 4 Goya award-winning (hey, sounds like nepotism to me!) biographical hodgepodge which, over the space of a long 105 minutes, manages to give us little insight into either the man or his work. The film does succeed, to a certain extent, as a look at a once great and passionate man's slide into infirmity and infinity, but when you concentrate on that particular subtext, Saura's surreal cinematic flourishes just get in the story's way. Plenty of sound, color and fury, signifying nothing (although easy on the eyes), this is not recommended. (S. C. Sickles)