Music drives the best Spanish cinema

The year 2024 may be remembered as the moment when Spanish cinema finally opened a door that had been stuck: that of musical fictions. It is difficult not to think so when the Film Academy announced this Wednesday the three films shortlisted to represent Spain at the 2025 Oscars and two of them, The blue star and Second prize, are works inspired by the experiences of Spanish bands such as Más Birras and Los Planetas, respectively. Therefore, there is a good chance that a film that has the music landscape as its main theme will be a candidate for an Oscar.

This is an important fact that reinforces the fabulous momentum that both works have had since their premiere. Both received awards: The blue star, Directed by Javier Macipe, it won the Youth Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival and the Golden Giraldillo at the Seville European Film Festival, while Second prize, directed by Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodriguez, won the Biznaga de Oro at the Malaga festival. And both have enjoyed another important factor, which is sometimes more difficult to achieve: the warmth of the spectators who have shared enthusiastic impressions on social networks.

When talking about musical fictions, it is worth noting that this genre would go beyond those known as biopics. That is, beyond the usual biographical films, which review the life of an artist. The history of cinema is full of these films, which in most cases are cloying hagiographies or difficult to digest due to the lack of a true artistic purpose beyond tracing the existence of a celebrity. There are also cases of the opposite: films with soul and capable of being retained in memory for their strength or innovation. Of course, classics such as biopics by Mozart (Amadeus) or Charlie Parker (Bird) to more recent ones like those of Tina Turner (Tub), Johnny Cash (On the tightrope), Ian Curtis (Control), Elton John (Rocketman)Brian Wilson (Love & Mercy) or Elvis Presley (Elvis)In Spain, perhaps one of the best examples is Camarón de la Isla (Shrimp).

Anglo-Saxon cinema has always been the standard-bearer of the biopics The film industry has been a great source of inspiration for musicals, but it also opened up another, even more interesting path for music lovers a long time ago. Both Hollywood and the independent industry have elevated stories inspired by musical characters or driven fictions based on the engine of popular music. Powerful and exciting films have been created from the universe of an artist or a musical genre. Perhaps the world of jazz has the best results: Francis Ford Coppola did it masterfully in The conversation either The Cotton Club, Woody Allen in Chords and Disagreements, Bertrand Tavernier in Around midnight and Damien Chazelle in Whiplash. With rock in the background, Cameron Crowe filmed Almost famous, Michael Winterbottom 24 Hour Party People, and Bradley Cooper A star is born. With country, Scott Cooper made Rebel heart, and Ethan Hawke Blaze. With folk, John Carney recorded Eleven and the Coen brothers About Llewyn Davis. Even Pixar had Soul. And the Oscars in 2018 awarded the best film to Green Book, the story of a virtuoso black pianist starring Vigo Mortesen and Mahershala Ali and directed by Peter Farelly.

With the exception of the contributions of Carlos Saura, Spanish cinema has always resisted opening the door to musical fictions, so explored – and sometimes so well – by English-language television and series. This year it has opened the door thanks to the wonderful push of the brilliant The blue star and the poetic Second prizeThe first tells the story of Mauricio Aznar, leader of Más Birras, in his search for himself while fleeing from drugs and Zaragoza, and is also a tribute to Argentine folk music. The second fictionalizes part of the turbulent history of Los Planetas in the recording of the album that would finally catapult them to success, and pays tribute to the first generation of the band. indie Spanish: Both connect with emotions beyond the stories of their protagonists.

2024 could be the year in which musical fictions have come to stay in the cinema. In fact, the film industry is already looking for more stories based on songs. Perhaps because they have already realized that when we talk about music, we are ultimately talking about life.