TIFF '23: Queer Way of Life

by Cláudio Alves

The 48th Annual Toronto Film Festival may have ended already, but my coverage here at The Film Experience is still going for a few more days. This time, let's talk about the program's queer offerings, highlighting three projects that range from an award-winning World Premiere to a beloved Spanish auteur's first foray into the Western genre. They are the dragged-up double feature of Sophie Dupuis' Solo, which took the Best Canadian Feature prize, and Unicorns, directed by Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd. Finally, there's Pedro Almodóvar's Strange Way of Life, bound to hit American theaters on October 4th, released by Sony Pictures Classics…

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Two Shorts = One Feature, sí?

by Nathaniel R

You may have heard that Sony Pictures Classics has decided on a release strategy for Pedro Almodóvar's short Strange Way of Life (which Elisa reviewed at Cannes). It will debut in NY & LA theaters on Wednesday October 4th and expand that Friday Oct 6th to other cities. Since the western starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal as lovers is only 31 minutes long it will be paired in release with the auteur's only previous English language effort, The Human Voice (reviewed here in 2020) which starred Tilda Swinton and is 30 minutes long.

Together that's just one hour and a single minute of cinema but it's Almodóvar so it stands to reason it's worth the ticket price. Do you think people will shell out for a double-short bill? 

Queering the Oscars: Best Foreign Film 1999, "All About My Mother"

For Pride Month, Team Experience has been looking at LGBTQ+ related Oscar nominations. We've decided to extend the series for a few more episodes. Pretend it's still June for a bit!

by Eric Blume

It’s wonderful fun to revisit 1999’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner, director Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother.  Although it’s a beautifully textured, multi-layered tapestry of themes and emotions, it has to be one of the unusual films to ever win this big prize. The plot involves, among other thing: a nurse going onstage as an unrehearsed cover for Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire; a HIV-positive, pregnant nun; two heterosexual women united by giving birth to sons named Esteban from the same transgender woman; and numerous conversations and jokes about acquired tits.

That none of these unlikely and uncommercial plot strands feel forced or shocking is due to the artistry of Almodóvar. The Spanish auteur weaves stories together nobody else would think of in a million years, wrapped up in the boldest color palettes imaginable, with performances of sheer emotional force that rattle the roof...

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Cannes: The cowboys of Almodóvar

Elisa Giudici reporting from Cannes

Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke as lovers in "Strange Way of Life". © Sony Pictures Classics

After 25 years, two former hired guns meet again in a small town in the Far West. After crossing the desert, Silva (Pedro Pascal) arrives at Bitter Creek where his old friend and ex-lover Jake (Ethan Hawke) has become sheriff. The two share a dinner and then a night of passion, but as they make the bed together (a tender first time in Western movies history, according to the director) hidden meanings, old wounds, and possible hidden agendas on both sides emerge in a heated discussion.

As usual, 30 minutes of Almodovar can be more impactful and memorable than three hour from other auteurs...

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YNMS Double: "Dune Part Two" and "Strange Way of Life"

by Nathaniel R

In case you missed 'em, feast your eyes on newish trailers for two of the most anticipated films of the year. Denis Villeneuve and company return to Arrakis for Dune Part Two and Pedro Almodóvar making his second English-language short film (after the Tilda show The Human Voice), a gay western called Strange Way of Life. Please note that the poster for the latter is basically doing Johnny Guitar cosplay, even if we hadn't already been sold by Almodóvar + Gay Western...

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