Carlos Sánchez Boyero (born 2 May 1953) is a Spanish film critic. He has published in ''

Diario 16 ''Diario 16'' (Spanish for "Daily 16" or "Newspaper 16") was a Spanish-language daily newspaper published in Madrid, Spain, between 1976 and 2001. The ''16'' of the title refers to the sixteen founders of Grupo 16, publishers of the weekly news m ...

'', '' El Mundo'', and ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'', and is a regular collaborator of

Cadena SER La Cadena SER (the SER Network) is a Spanish radio network established in 1924, with a regular listenership of 4,139,000 reported in 2018. The acronym SER stands for Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión (Spanish Broadcasting Company). Cadena SE ...

. He is a popular and controversial film critic, whose figure has polarized public opinion and that of his colleagues in the profession.

Life and career

Carlos Sánchez Boyero was born in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

on 2 May 1953. He removed his paternal surname due to bad blood with his father. He moved to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 1972 and studied at the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid (, UCM; ) is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293 (before relocating to Madrid in 1836), it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world, and one of Spain's ...

, where he befriended

Fernando Trueba Fernando Rodríguez Trueba (born 18 January 1955), known as Fernando Trueba, is a Spanish filmmaker, writer, producer and book editor. Career Between 1974 and 1979, Trueba worked as a film critic for Spain's leading daily newspaper '' El Paí ...

and

Antonio Resines Antonio Fernández Resines (born 7 August 1954) is a Spanish film and television actor. Resines made his feature film debut in 1980 in ''La paloma azul'', also featuring in '' Opera prima'' and ''La mano negra''. He gained early notoriety in th ...

. Boyero struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse in his early life, spending time in four drug rehab centers. Trueba advised him to write a column about nightlife in ', and some time later he began to write film critics for the magazine. He was fired from ''Guía del Ocio'' in 1986 for writing excessive negative reviews.

Pedro J. Ramírez Pedro José Ramírez Codina (born 26 March 1952), widely known as Pedro J. Ramírez, is a Spanish journalist. When he was appointed to manage ''Diario 16'' at the age of 28, he became Spain's youngest editor of a national newspaper. In 1989 he ...

hired him to work for ''

'', and after the newspaper's closure, Boyero joined '' El Mundo''. He began writing regularly for ''

'' in 2007. In 2008, a letter signed by

Víctor Erice Víctor Erice Aras (; born 30 June 1940) is a Spanish film director. He is best known for his first two feature fiction films, '' The Spirit of the Beehive'' (1973), which many regard as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made, and '' El Sur' ...

, José Luis Guerin, , and Álvaro Arroba was sent to ''El País'' "severely" questioning Boyero's activity as a film critic. It had support from the likes of filmmakers

Chantal Akerman Chantal Anne Akerman (; 6 June 19505 October 2015) was a Belgian film director, screenwriter, artist, and film professor at the City College of New York. Akerman is best known for her films (1974), (1975), and '' News from Home'' (1976). The ...

Lisandro Alonso Lisandro Alonso (born 2 June 1975) is an Argentine film director and screenwriter. He has directed six feature-length films and a short film since 2001 and is loosely associated with the ''New Argentine Cinema'' movement. His film '' La libertad ...

, ,

Isaki Lacuesta Isaki Lacuesta (born 28 November 1975) is a Spanish film director from Catalonia. His work includes documentary film, narrative film and video art. Lacuesta was born into a family of Basque origin. He studied audiovisual communication at the Auto ...

, film critics such as Carlos Losilla, Àngel Quintana, Santos Zunzunegui, Gonzalo de Lucas, José Manuel López, Carlos Reviriego and Xavi Serra and other film personalities such as

Filmoteca Española The Filmoteca Española () is an official institution of the Spanish Ministry of Culture. Its objective is to restore, investigate and conserve the film heritage of Spain and its diffusion. It is part of the Institute of Cinematography and Audio ...

director, Antonio Santamarina and producer Luis Miñarro. Meanwhile, Boyero was then defended by fellow ''

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

'' colleague Oti Rodríguez Marchante. Boyero is a best known detractor of filmmaker

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter and author. His films are distinguished by Melodrama (film genre), melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular c ...

, regularly penning dismissive reviews containing personal attacks on Almodóvar. According to Manuel J. Lombardo his detractors revile "his disdain for the new, his egotistical haughtiness, his immovable classical tastes, and his laziness for discovery". His comments disparaging

Jodie Foster Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. Foster started her career as a child actor before establishing herself as leading actress in film. She has received List of awards and nominations re ...

's physical looks in 2024 during a negative review of '' True Detective: Night Country'' also attracted public examination and scrutiny. A documentary film titled ''The Critic'' examining his life and career was presented in 2022 at the

70th San Sebastián International Film Festival The 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival took place from 16 to 24 September 2022 in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Spain. The awards were announced on 24 September 2022, with '' The Kings of the World'' winning the Golden Shell. Backgroun ...

References

Spanish film critics People from Salamanca 1953 births El País people Living people {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyero, Carlos