Puta Madre! The Pedro Almodovar Poll

I saw Kika and Bitter Moon back to back in spring '94 and thought that Jeremy Irons was finally getting competition in the masochistic lech department.

i watched dark habits, not great but g-ddamn look at this poster

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/df/Entre_Tinieblas.jpg

I'm kind of obsessed with the trailer for The Skin I Live In

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GO9Nd92B5k

And singer Buika is in the movie

Buika--Afro-Spanish Singer (Who's more than just one of NPR's "50 Great Voices")

Anyone watched The Skin I'm In yet? I'm dubious.

*Skin I Live In

Nope, and I haven't read the book its adapted from either a Thierry Jonquet novel.

i'm kind of mixed on this dude, but the new one looks pretty intriguing.

I liked it. Nice and twisted.

It's awesome. Totally, utterly unique.

so 'tie me up! tie me down!' is pretty hilarious/terrible, huh?

was good & compelling imo

I do miss the Almodovar movies in which Antonio Banderas was ravished by men.

have sat through a lot of this guy's movies and don't get the appeal

Almodovar invented Antonio Banderas, homosexuality, makeup, nuns, screwball comedy, and Caetano Veloso.

is he known for comedy? everything I've seen has been pretty much straight melodrama

facepalm

Have you seen Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown or What Have I Done To Deserve This?

i guess tbf he really has more melodrama than comedy to his name at this point

why are you guys acting as if melodrama and comedy are mutually exclusive?

let's see, I have seen:

Volver
Talk to Her
All About My Mother
Kika (I think...? This might have been the one where I fell asleep in the theater)

AAMM has some laugh out loud moments.

Kika is horrid.

Conclusion: you're missing out.

but even the most dramatic of these are pretty funny in places? and the comedies rely on seriousness to a degree. maybe arch just does not connect at all to certain sensibilities?

x-post

shakey you should check out live flesh! and bad education. i think those two are my favorites. love 'women on the verge' too.

I'll admit that I'm biased because I understand the Spanish and chuckle at how well he reproduces the vulgar inside jokes between family members (at which Volver excelled).

is there a thread on 'the skin i live in'?

thought it was amaaazing, triggered a revulsion/phobic response i didn't even know i had

There is a thread; I'll find it.

I found it dreadful: his worst since the mid nineties.

Watched it last night and thought it was fantastic. I'm not an enormous Almodovar fan, though.

i managed to find whiney's terribly unfindable thread on it: PEDRO_o Almodo_Ovar: The Skin I'm In , but there was another one, right? i just watched it and i'm not entirely sure what i thought, but "revulsion/phobic response i didn't even know i had" is certainly right. i can't think of much else that had that kind of gnawing implicit horror for me.

I found it mostly hilarious.

spanish govt saying almodovar dead

never mind, hoax, sorry!

*unfollows HoaxRIPsEspanol*

i thought the skin I live in was great.

is anyone... aheh... excited about the new one

mentally grouped it w/ the coens new 1, both look p bad imo

Stupid, gross, and lightweight, I'm So Excited is his best since Talk to Her.

65yo

http://www.fandor.com/keyframe/daily-almodovar-65

I'm not sure how much money I'd have paid Antonio Banderas to remain at the peak of his age and beauty in Law of Desire.

i would contribute to that kickstarter

throw in lube money too

well, yeah

I have been so into early Almodovar lately!! I've been thinking a lot abt his films w/in the specific cultural context of 90's Spain, he connections that his films have to that culture, and which parts are accurate representations and which parts are homage/satire, etc. But the problem is that I know absolutely NOTHING abt Spanish culture. I also wonder if any other Spanish directors showcased a similarly colorful camp/melodrama sensibility; I feel like there must be an entire world of films like this but I have no idea what they are.

oh my

"Pedro and his brother Agustin Almodovar are listed in the unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the fourth-biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

The files show the Almodovars held an offshore company from 1991-1994, managed by Mossack Fonseca. The dates coincide with the Spanish director’s first successes, Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down — which grossed €3.1 million in 1990 — and 1991’s High Heels, with earnings of €5.2 million.

In a release Monday, Agustin Almodovar took full responsibility for the offshore company as the business partner in the production company."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/pedro-almodovar-cancels-press-new-880991

According to Neil Young, he was the frontrunner to the Palm d'Or this year. Now it will probably go to someone at their artistic prime. So sad.

"Emma Suarez and Ariadna Ugarte star in the iconoclastic director’s return to the cinema of great female protagonists."

I've been watching as many Almodovar as I can get my hands on to prepare for Julietta, and the one that really impressed me was Broken Embraces. I get why it's seen as a disappointment, as in a way, it's the first one where he loses control over the film, but that might be why I loved it. I guess I think his films might be a bit too controlled for me, so when he loses control for a bit, there's so much more room to breathe.

Also, it's pretty clearly about the breakdown of his working relationship with Carmen Maura, right? The film they're making is obviously Women on the Verge - the last film he did with Maura - and then the director loses the actress, and is never the same again. There's a darkness to that, especially as it came right after Volver, where Maura 'returns' to Almodovar. But three years later he takes a second look and says 'no really, we lost out, and it can't be made right again'. I don't know, it's dark and messy in a way that speaks to me.

What did you think of I'm So Excited?

Meh? It's kinda Almodovar going back to basics, which is sorta pointless. Also because if he really wanted to make something warm and celebratory, that's pretty much what I think Volver is.

it's so frivolous but I thought it was so much fun