DVD/150: DOLOR Y GLORIA (PAIN AND GLORY) (Pedro Almodóvar, 2019)

Almodóvar's 21st film, the powerful, deeply personal DOLOR Y GLORIA, resounded strongly with me.

Recovering from a back operation, acclaimed director Salvador Mallo is unwell, and cannot work.

 

An early film is being revived and a proposed appearance with the lead actor Alberto is impossible as they fell out 32 years ago.

 

Reconciling with Alberto, Salvador tries heroin for the first time; it brings pain relief but increases his tiredness, his dreams returning him to his childhood in Valencia, living with his parents in a whitewashed cave home. 

 

 

Salvador allows Alberto to adapt an unpublished short story for a one-man show, about Salvador's first lover who he tried to nurse through a heroin addiction.  One night the lover, Federico, visiting Madrid from Argentina, sees the play and visits Salvador, both moved at the reconciliation.

 

Confronting his unresolved relationship with his late mother and his first male desire brings renewal.

Shelf or charity shop?  Total shelf.  It feels like a culmination of Almodóvar's films over the past twenty years, retracing again memories of family faultlines. Salvador's increasingly personal reunions with past failings lead to a wonderful final scene when memory and renewal connect. The film primarily belongs to the Pedro regulars: Antonio Banderas's performance is so subtle that it haunts you. It was his 8th Almodóvar film, and he deserved, among other honours, the Cannes and Goya Awards for Best Actor.  Julieta Serrano is excellent as his dying mother Jacinta, her silent reproach at his life finally aired: she won the Best Supporting Actress Goya Award for this, her 6th Pedro collaboration.  Penélope Cruz also appears in her 6th Almodóvar collaboration, shining as the younger Jacinta in Salvador's memories, her performance is marvellously earthy yet layered.  Astonishingly good are Asier Flores as the boy Salvador and César Vicente as Eduardo, the young village painter who becomes his first obsession.  Asier Etxiandia is fine as Alberto the actor as is Nora Navas as Mallo's agent but Leonardo Sbaraglia is magnificent as Salvador's first lover Federico: the central scene between him amd Banderas is tenderly played and emotionally devastating.  A special mention for the cameo from Cecilia Roth (in her 8th Pedro film) as the actress who helps reunite Salvador and Antonio.  DOLOR Y GLORIA also features remarkable work from composer Alberto Iglesias (his 11th Pedro film), cinematographer José Luis Alcaine (his 7th film with Almodóvar) and production designer Antxón Gómez (his 9th collaboration).  A perfect film.

 

 

Dvd/150: VOLVER (Pedro Almodóvar, 2006)

VOLVER glows with warmth and colour thanks to six phenomenal actresses who jointly won the Best Actress Award at Cannes.  'Volver' means 'to return' and here Almodóvar returns to Carmen Maura, the subject of mothers and daughters and the need for ghosts.. 

Sisters Raimunda and Sole regularly visit their La Mancha birthplace to tend their parent's grave who died in a fire three years previously and visit their frail aunt Paula, but she tells them their mother Irene's ghost is there looking after her.

Back in Madrid, Raimunda's daughter stabs her father when he attempts rape. Raimunda hides his body in the freezer of an empty restaurant that she has access to, later opening the restaurant to make extra cash. 

Sole attends Aunt Paula's funeral only to discover Irene's ghost is in the house; imagine her shock when she returns to Madrid and discovers Irene hidden in her car boot...

Shelf or charity shop?  An absolute keeper - Almodóvar's excellent cinematic storytelling deftly moves from supernatural family drama through comedy to a genuinely profound meditation on love, loss and the power of forgiveness.  The film is dominated by three remarkable performances: Penélope Cruz is luminous as Raimunda, Carmen Maura is glorious as Irene and Blanca Portillo is heartbreaking as the secretive, grieving village neighbour Agustina; there is wonderful support from Lola Duenas as Sole, Yohana Cobo as Raimona's daughter Paula and the wonderful Chus Lampreave who steals her one scene as frail Aunt Paula.  A special mention to Alberto Iglesias' excellent score.

Dvd/150: TODO SOBRE MI MADRE (All About My Mother) (Pedro Almodvar, 1999)

The culmination of Almodóvar's exploration of more personal storytelling, this is one of my favourite films.

For his 17th birthday Manuela takes her son Esteban to see his favourite actress Huma Rojo in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE but it ends tragically when he is killed running after Huma's car.

Heartbroken, Manuela returns to Barcelona where she lived with Esteban's father before he had a sex-change and became 'Lola'.  She meets her trans prostitute friend Agrado who says that Lola is now very ill.

They trace Lola to a drop-in centre and Sister Rosa reveals that her befriending Lola has resulted in her pregnant and HIV-Positive.  Manuela cares for her but life changes when the production of STREETCAR reaches Barcelona.

Fate sees Manuela employed as Huma's dresser but when asked to play 'Stella' at short notice, she reveals she first met Lola in an amateur production in Argentina.

Shelf or charity shop?  A shelf of it's own.  My favourite Pedro film; parents and children, living and death, authenticity and make-believe...  these big themes are enveloped in the warm embrace of Almodóvar's film-making.  Wonderful performances from Penélope Cruz, Toni Canto, Antonia San Juan, Rosa Maria Sardá and Eloy Azorin support the unforgettable performances of Cecilia Roth and Marisa Paredes as Manuela and Huma.  Never has the colour red been so vibrantly photographed...

DVD/150: CARNE TRÉMULA (Live Flesh) (Pedro Almodóvar, 1997)

Almodóvar's first film adaptation sees him lose most of novelist Ruth Rendell's plot but keeps the central idea.

Madrid: Victor, 20 year-old son of a prostitute, pursues Elena, a rich addict, to her apartment a week after having sex but she rejects him. During the argument her gun misfires and two nearby policemen, David and Sancho, investigate.  Sancho is drunk after suspecting his wife Clara of infidelity and his wayward actions result in him and Victor wrestling with the gun which fires, hitting David and crippling him for life.

Released from prison, Victor discovers David is now a wheelchair paralympian married to a now-sober Elena; Victor gatecrashes a funeral attended by the couple where he meets Carla, Sancho's unhappy, abused wife and they start an affair.  David warns Victor to back off but all five are entangled in a deceitful web with Victor holding the most shocking secret...

Shelf or charity shop? A keeper for the wonderful performances of Ángela Molina and the late José Sancho as Carla and Sancho who offset the colourless leads Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri and Liberto Raval as Victor.  The film also marked the first time Penélope Cruz appeared in an Almodóvar film, in a cameo role as Victor's mother.