Tuesday, May 16, 2017 at 3:06PM The 70th annual Cannes Film Festival begins in just one day -- the official website even has a countdown clock which says 1: 3:56:0 as I publish this-- with Pedro Almodóvar presiding over the jury and Nicole Kidman starring in not one, not two, not three, but four debuting projects. One a scale of 1-100 how much do you wish your were flying to the south of France right about now?
Monday, May 15, 2017 at 7:30PM It's a Pedro Party. We're celebrating Almodóvar each day as we count down to Cannes 2017. Here's Daniel Crooke.
Women hold the universe together according to the peacock-feathered films of Pedro Almodóvar, and never more earthily or elegant than in his mirrored portraits of multitasking matriarchs putting out the fires of the men around them: 1984’s What Have I Done To Deserve This? and 2006’s Volver. Both domestic dramas with a hint of the supernatural, they showcase a pair of imperfect pragmatists – respectively, Gloria (Carmen Maura) and Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) – caught in the crucible of their everyday lives with no signs of slowing down, spinning an interminable amount of plates only to wash them straight after so they can serve their families dinner on time. While their inattentive lazybones husbands bark orders from the couch and fail to see the strength beyond their busts – no matter, as they’ll soon both be dead– Gloria and Raimunda are the breadwinners, juggling odd jobs and managing the affairs of family and friends to simply keep the lights on.
Strikingly feminist with an emphasis on the superhuman virtues of intergenerational sisterhood, What Have I Done To Deserve This? and Volver display two working women hustling on the verge with no time for a nervous breakdown...
Monday, May 15, 2017 at 12:00PM It's a Pedro Party! Our Almodóvar week is extending a couple of days. You can click on the images from this production design feature to see them in magnified detail. Here's Daniel Walber...
El Cigarral is a mysterious, hidden estate that lurks on the outskirts of Toledo, Spain. Its gates are perpetually locked and its secrets are not easily pried loose. Its owner, Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas), keeps the outside world at a distance.
That said, more people manage to break in than he might like. It’s inevitable, at least in movies like these. Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In is part of a long tradition that winds its way from The Island of Lost Souls through Eyes Without a Face. And this house, which seems to be accessible only under cover of night or in disguise, is among the most dramatically conceived in the entire genre...
Friday, May 12, 2017 at 5:30PM It's a Pedro Party all week. Here's Lynn Lee on her introduction to Almodóvar...
To all actresses who have played actresses. To all women who act. To men who act and become women. To all the people who want to be mothers. To my mother.”
All About My Mother was the first Almodovar film I ever saw, and as it happens, I saw it with my own mother. I don’t remember why I picked it for us to see together. It certainly wasn’t because of the title or because I thought it would be something she’d particularly like. In fact, if I’d thought about it more, I might have been anxious that she would find it too outré. Or for that matter, that I would; as both a movie lover and a young adult, I was just beginning to learn what was out there and how far it stretched beyond my own personal experience.
To our credit, or rather to Almodovar’s, there was no reason for such trepidation...
Thursday, May 11, 2017 at 4:20PM We're celebrating Pedro Almodóvar all week. Here's Chris Feil on Pedro's standby composer...
Here at The Film Experience, ruminating on Pedro Almodóvar’s list of frequent collaborators would most likely find an actress’s name come up first. But aside from his onscreen talent, there is one now prolific relationship the director has that’s equally worth celebrating: composer Alberto Iglesias.
The Almodóvar/Iglesias collaboration is now ten films deep, dating back to 1995‘s The Flower of My Secret without a single gap film since. His work is inextricable from what Almodóvar creates on screen, a cohesive piece of the melodrama that enhances the tone rather than defining it. Let's discuss five favorites from his work after the jump...