1987: Carmen Maura in "Law of Desire"

Each month before the Smackdown, Nick Taylor considers alternates to Oscar's ballot...

I bet Pedro Almodóvar's filmography would be a fun one to watch in order. His visual ideas and narrative fascinations recur throughout his films, yet his deployment and examination of them take on different textures at different points. Murder, art, cinema, romantic passion, heartbreaking yet inextricably devoted family ties, queerness, as filtered through the generic keys of farce, melodrama, and thriller, it’s all there from his earliest works to last year’s tremendously moving Pain and Glory, each film recognizably guided by the same hand. There’s great fun to be had in watching different stylists and performers interpret Almodóvar’s very tricky vision, and no collaboration largely specific to the earliest stages of his career is quite as gratifying as Carmen Maura’s heroic work with him throughout the ‘80s. 

Granted, I’ve only seen three of their six collaborations in this era - What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Law of Desire, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - so if the first few aren’t up to snuff I’ll amend this. But those films are colorful, highwire efforts whose successes are as much the result of Almodóvar’s inspired writing and direction as Maura’s brilliant acting. Law of Desire provides her the least farcical, most dramatic role of this trio, as well as the only instance where she’s not the main character...

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Vintage '87 (and what would have been nominated in an expanded Best Picture list?)

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1987 is two weeks away so get your votes in! We've already had a lot of fun revisiting 1987 films but before we get to the main event let's get some general context of that year in showbiz history. Ready? 

Great Big Box Office Hits:
The comedy Three Men and a Baby, the erotic thriller Fatal Attraction, and the Eddie Murphy action comedy sequel Beverly Hills Cop II, and the Robin Williams vehicle Good Morning Vietnam were easily the four biggest hits of the year, box-office wise. The enduringly popular Moonstruck wasn't quite in their league in tickets sold back then but still very popular, rounding out the top five. The other top ten hits of that year were the acclaimed mobs vs feds costume drama The Untouchables, the now arguably forgotten comedies The Secret of My Success and Stakeout, and the buddy action movie Lethal Weapon (which spawned a franchise). 

The competition for #10 was down to just a $320,000 dollar difference with best-seller all-star adaptation The Witches of Eastwick just barely beating out teen favourite Dirty Dancing. But back in the 1980s adults actually went to the movies a lot rather than only obsessing over "peak TV"...

Oscar's Best Picture Nominees: Of those 11 box office smashes of '87, Oscar cherry picked Moonstruck (6 nominations) and Fatal Attraction (6 nominations) as the cream of the crop and included them in the Best Picture race (correct choices).The beloved Broadcast News (7 nominations) and the costume drama historical epic The Last Emperor (9 nominations) were also popular with Oscar voters (and ticket buyers, too, it should be noted)...

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Beauty Break: Almodóvar's Eye Candy

by Cláudio Alves

César Vicente in PAIN & GLORY (2019).

Before Martin Scorsese ignited the internet's fury with his comments about the MCU, another master filmmaker had already made headlines with less than complimentary opinions on the matter. Back in April, before he took his glorious Pain & Glory to Cannes, Pedro Almodóvar criticized superhero movies for having no sexuality. According to the Spanish auteur, they are neutered.

When compared against his passionate filmography they are piteously sexless indeed. But so are most movies. Few filmmakers have explored the many permutations of desire as thoroughly as Almodóvar has, usually with a patina of irreverent queerness. From killers in skimpy white briefs to ballets of bulges and sculpted asses, his camera is always ready to lick an actor's body and crystalize them into divinities of wantonness.

You're invited to peruse the director's gallery of beautiful men, starting at the dawn of his career and ending with Pain & Glory's first bloom of desire. Come see Almodóvar's NSFW eye candy…

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Queer critics on their fav queer films

by Nathaniel R

Pedro Almodóvar and Antonio Banderas on the set of "Law of Desire"

I didn't intend to point you to yet another "best LGBTQ films" list since we've been to that well twice with an overview of online lists and then my own personal list for Pride month. Nevertheless you'll surely want to check out this article at Paste Magazine called "50+ Queer Writers, 50+ Queer Films". Our friend Kyle Turner polled dozens of critics who identify as LGBTQ asking them to share a short thought about a cinematic favourite. We were only allowed one film, so I went with Law of Desire. We were also encouraged to think broadly about what "queer" meant so a lot of the choices you'll read are atypical rather than full on G-A-Y. Head to the Paste link above to read the whole exciting thing but after the jump I'm sharing three excerpts I particularly loved, two of them from trans critics since they don't get mentioned often...

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April Showers: Antonio Banderas in "Law of Desire"

In April Showers, Team TFE looks at our favorite waterlogged moments in the movies. Here's Manuel on Law of Desire (1987).

Almodóvar is the air again due to Chus Lampreave's passing and his latest, Julieta getting solid reviews (his best since Volver). And since April is “Actor Month” here at TFE let's kill two birds with one stone by looking at a small scene featuring Antonio Banderas and Eusebio Poncela from the 1987 classic Law of Desire.

The film centers on Antonio (Banderas) and his obsessive fixation with a gay film director (Poncela). After stalking him and eventually roping his way into his life, Antonio settles on trying to shape Pablo after his own image. First, he fixes some things around Pablo’s messy apartment, including some tiles in his shower, and then, the next day he takes it upon himself to set some sort of routine for them.

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