El buen patrón / The Good Boss

Fernando León de Aranoa: El buen patrón / The Good Boss (ES 2021) with Javier Bardem as Blanco.

Fernando León de Aranoa: El buen patrón / The Good Boss (ES 2021) on the Blanco Básculas shop floor with Tarik Rmili (Khalec) and Almudena Amor (Liliana).

Fernando León de Aranoa: El buen patrón / The Good Boss (ES 2021), the first tour of the interns on the Blanco Básculas shop floor with Almudena Amor (Liliana).

Fernando León de Aranoa: El buen patrón / The Good Boss (ES 2021), with Sonia Almarcha (Adela Blanco) and Almudena Amor (Liliana).

Hyvä pomo / Världens bästa chef.
    ES 2021. PC: Reposado Producciones Cinematograficas, S.L. ; Mediapro Cine, S.L.U. ; Basculas Blanco, A.I.E. Productor: Fernando León de Aranoa , Jaume Roures , Javier Méndez. Productor ejecutivo: Patricia de Muns , Pilar de Heras , Laura Fernández Espeso , Eva Garrido , Marisa Fernández Armenteros. Dirección de producción: Luis Gutiérrez
    Dirigido por: Fernando León de Aranoa. Ayudante de dirección: Antonio Ordóñez. Guión: Fernando León de Aranoa. Dirección de fotografía: Pau Esteve – scope. Dirección artística: César Macarrón. Vestuario: Fernando García. Maquillaje: Almudena Fonseca Ferrandis , Manolo García. Peluquería: Almudena Fonseca Ferrandis , Manolo García. Efectos especiales: Miriam Piquer. Música: Zeltia Montes. Sonido directo: Iván Marín. Montaje de sonido: Pelayo Gutiérrez. Mezclas de sonido: Valeria Arcieri. Montaje: Vanessa Marimbert.
    Sergei Prokofiev: Overture to the ballet Romeo and Juliet (1936).
    "Feeling Good" (Anthony Newley, Lesley Bricusse, in 1964 for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd), perf. Michael Bublé 2005.
    Intérpretes: Javier Bardem (Blanco) , Manolo Solo (Miralles) , Almudena Amor (Liliana) , Óscar de la Fuente Bellido (Jose) , Sonia Almarcha (Adela), Fernando Albizu (Román, the gatekeeper) , Tarik Rmili (Khalec) , Rafael Castejón (Rubio), Celso Bugallo (Fortuna) , Martín Páez Sánchez (Salva) , Yael Belicha (Inés) , Mara Guil (Aurora).
    Fecha de inicio de rodaje: 12/10/2020. Fecha de final de rodaje: 4/12/2020.
    Tipo de película: Cine Ficción. Género: Comedia drama. Etiquetas: Comedia , Drama. Relación de pantalla: DCP.
    Versión original: Castellano.
    116 min
    Estrenos: 14/10/2021.
Credits and synopsis from: I.C.A.A. (Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales): Catálogo de Cinespañol.
    Finnish premiere: 22 July 2022, released by Future Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Sari Selander / Michaela Palmberg.
    Viewed at Finnkino Strand, Iso Kristiina, Lappeenranta, 23 July 2022.

Official synopsis: "Blanco, the charismatic owner of a family run factory, is under pressure as he covets a local award for business excellence. Everything needs to be perfect! But the veneer of the perfect company cracks as Blanco has to deal with a vengeful fired worker, a depressed supervisor, and an infatuated ambitious intern. To win the competiton, the manipulative “good boss” shamelessly meddles in his employees ́ private lives and crosses every line imaginable, unknowingly starting an explosive chain reaction with wild consequences."

AA: Carried by the intelligent screenplay and direction by Fernando León de Aranoa, a charismatic lead performance by Javier Bardem as Blanco and an overall excellent cast, The Good Boss is a witty satire about working life in a traditional patriarchal family-run factory, Blanco Básculas (Blanco Scales). The patrón type boss is like a father, and the employees are his family. This is, in fact, Blanco's explanation why he and his wife have no children.

The issues are interesting and León de Aranoa's approach is original. It starts with juvenile delinquency. Blanco is always eager to help even in private crises, and he takes care of a youngster because Fortuna (Celso Bugallo), his father, is an employee. Three young female interns get special attention since "you are like my daughters". Miralles the supervisor (Manolo Solo) acts chaotically because his private life is a mess, and Blanco starts to meddle. Jose (Oscar de la Fuente), a worker who has been fired, starts a media campaign on the wasteland in front of the factory.

The factory produces industrial scales in a provincial town, and the plot is about the factory's attempt to win an award for business excellence. The themes of the scales, balance and justice are central visually, literally and symbolically.

But with all the problems emerging everything seems be heading for disaster. Miralles keeps getting more and more erratic, the fired worker does not give up until the hooligans burn his place and he kills in self-defense Fortuna's son who has been protected by Blanco. Blanco lands into bed with the beautiful Liliana (Almudena Amor) before learning that she is the grown-up daughter of a close family friend.

Despite his reactionary and latently racist patriarchal disposition, Blanco is a smart businessman who cannot deny the abilities of Khalec (Tarik Rmili) who is promoted while Miralles if finally fired.

Liliana is smart, too, and it is interesting to figure out who is playing whom. While Blanco's watchword is balance, Liliana keeps reminding us of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Closeness of the observer to the observed can bring changes.

Against Liliana's better judgment, she is aroused in the vicinity of Blanco. It is not a simple case of boss taking advantage of young beautiful intern. When Blanco finds out who Liliana really is (he has, it turns out, known her since she was a baby), he immediately takes steps to send her elsewhere. Quietly, Liliana takes things into her own hands together with Khalec. Perhaps everything takes place with the complicity of Blanco's wife Adela (Sonia Almarcha).

In a last minute rescue, the company gets the award of the most quality conscious enterprise of the year. But tears are falling on Fortuna's cheek. The funeral of his son is the emotional climax of the tragi-comedy. El buen patrón succeeds as engrossing entertainment and as a thoughtworthy account of contemporary life.

The figure of the patriarchal boss reminds me of Japanese post-WW2 films, including those by Yasujiro Ozu such as Higanbana. The world is officially patriarchal, but women pull the strings and let men play boss.