Review of Goya's Ghosts

Though it certainly looks like your run of the mill period piece, Milos Forman's Goya's Ghosts is a strange beast indeed. Its successes lie in some fine performances by Stellan Skarsgard and Javier Bardem but the story meanders through vaguely defined periods of Spanish history. It's often disarmingly funny - carrying a vibe that doesn't fit the costumes and high drama of the depicted period and Natalie Portman borders on brutal at times. Its a movie that never really finds its way and never really seems to have anything particularly important or interesting to say. It is gorgeous to look at and entertaining in a vaudevillian kind of way but never reaches the peaks of Forman's finest work.