Pedro Almodóvar

La piel que habito (The Skin I Live In) (2011) by Pedro Almodóvar

Two years ago Broken Embraces reconciled me with Almodóvar’s cinema… The Skin I Live In is definitely putting an end to a decade-long Almodóvar fatigue.  

Sex, intrigue, melodrama, violence, death, passion, bondage & gagging, camp, style, all the usual and delightful tricks Almodóvar pulls out of his ass so brilliantly. [I miss the full-blown and outrageous slapstick of the old days though… In that regard, it’s too bad that the character of Zeta (Roberto Álamo) is given so little screen time..he was bringing up the funny and the grotesque… Ah well.]

I can’t explain why this one totally works for me while Volver and Bad Education for instance, didn’t (at all). It just does, so let’s leave it at that. 

Los Abrazos Rotos (2009) by Pedro Almodóvar

Finally, a great Almodóvar! I hadn’t had this much fun watching a film by the Spanish master since Tacones lejanos. That was back in the early 90s when Victoria Abril was his hot muse, so a long long time ago. Since then, I’ve been going to see his movies out of loyality but with less and less convinction. La mala educación was the last nail in the coffin, and even though Volver was a step up, it did nothing to restore my faith in Almodóvar… Until this gem came along, that is.

Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces) has all the ingredients of a great Almodóvar recipe: a muse to die and kill for, passion, sex, jealousy, death, intrigue, melodrama, and humour, lots and lots of humour. Two scenes in particular are absolutely priceless: the hilariously ridiculous vampire script (Donate Blood) that Diego and Mateo come up with in the spur of the moment and the completed scene of Girls and Suitcases (the movie within the movie), a wonderful excercise in screwball comedy and a great clin d’oeil to an old Almodóvar favourite of mine: Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios.