It's frustrating that the foreign-language films nominated for Oscars rarely become widely available to the movie-going public. It's doubly frustrating, then, when a nominated film gets picked up for American distribution only to be dropped off in a few select theaters much later. José Luis Garci's 1998 film El Abuelo—helpfully translated to The Grandfather by the folks at Miramax—was unfortunate enough to be Spain's Oscar entry the same year Life Is Beautiful contended, meaning his movie never stood a chance. An extremely leisurely story about aging and honor, The Grandfather's two-and-a-half-hour running time handicaps what could have been a particularly good parable. When an aging, bitter, turn-of-the-century Spanish aristocrat (Fernando Fernán-Gómez) learns that his son has died, he travels back to his family estate in Spain to confront his detested daughter-in-law (Cayetana Guillén Cuervo), whom he suspects of bearing him an illegitimate granddaughter. But which one is it? Which granddaughter will gain his blessing, and which his curse? If the story sounds Shakespearean, it's probably intentional: The Grandfather is peppered with references to Macbeth, Hamlet, and especially King Lear. Yet while scheming characters plot to imprison the volatile Fernán-Gómez, or characterize him as insane, the vicious curmudgeon remains sharply intent on his task. Fernán-Gómez is memorably mean, and the scenery is gorgeous, but The Grandfather ultimately succumbs to sentimentality laced with shallow philosophizing. It doesn't help that the political subtext concerning the fall of Spain's privileged class is only intermittently addressed. Add to that a tendency toward exaggerated acting that's better suited for the stage, as well as an overbearingly maudlin score, and The Grandfather falls short of its potential.