DVD/150: JULIETA (Pedro Almodóvar, 2016)

After the mile-high-jinks of I'M SO EXCITED, Almodóvar returned to family drama for his 20th film JULIETA.

Based on three Alice Munro stories, JULIETA should have starred Meryl Streep but Almodóvar felt more comfortable working in Spanish.

Julieta has not heard from her daughter Antia for 12 years but her pain returns when she meets Antia's best teenage friend who tells her she recently saw her in Switzerland.

Julieta moves back to her old apartment building, the last address Antia had for her, and remembers her life.

Julieta met Xoan, a Galician fisherman. on a train journey in the 1980s while working as a supply teacher.  They made love, and months later, with her contract over - and pregnant - Julieta learned Xoan was now a widower so moved to Galicia to be with him and give birth to Antia.|

But Julieta learns tragedy can break families in different ways...

Shelf or charity shop? JULIETA is a keeper for Almodóvar's mastery of multi-thread storytelling.  Tellingly, especially after the camp of I'M SO EXCITED, JULIETA is played without any comedy undertone.  Their are fine performances from Emma Suárez and Adriana Ugarte as the older and younger Julietta - Almodóvar gives them a marvellous transition moment halfway through - and a delightful supporting turn from Pedro regular Rossy de Palma as Marian, Xoan's stoic housekeeper.

Dvd/150: LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (Broken Embraces) (Pedro Almodóvar, 2009)

Almodóvar's 17th film is a multi-layered tale of love, loss and film-making; it also continues his collaboration with Penelope Cruz as well as featuring cameos by his favourite acresses.

Former film director Mateo was blinded in a car crash 14 years ago and now lives as a writer under the name 'Harry Caine'; he is cared for by his agent Judit and her son Diego.

As Mateo cares for Diego after an accidental drug overdose, he learns that the tycoon Ernesto Martel has died; it allows Mateo to tell Diego of the events in the 1990s that involved him, Judit, Martel and Martel's mistress Lena who became Mateo's secret lover when he cast her in his latest film, events that ended with the crash which blinded him and killed Lena.

Penélope Cruz is radiant and touching as Lena, adored by Mateo, Ernesto - and, ultimately, by Pedro's camera  too.

Shelf or charity shop?  It's a keeper for Almodóvar's rhapsodic film-making, Alberto Iglesias' score with it's Bernard Herrman overtones and the performances of Lluís Homar as Mateo, Blanca Portillo as Judit, José Luis Gómez as Ernestro, and the delightful previous 'Pedronista's Lola Duenas, Angela Molina, Rossy de Palma, Chus Lampreave and Kiti Mánver.

DVD/150: LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO (The Flower of My Secret) (Pedro Almodóvar, 1995)

LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO is from Pedro's transitional 1990s period of making films with deeper emotional resonance than those that brought him fame the previous decade, with a stronger cinematic language and more rounded characters.

Magnificent Marisa Paredes is Leo, whose obsession for her absent - physically and emotionally - army husband Paco is driving her to alcoholic despair.  Leo ghostwrites successful romance novels but cannot deliver the vacuous fodder her publisher wants as her writing is reflecting her anguish.

They reject Leo's latest novel and threaten to expose her as the real 'Amanda Gris' if she does not fulfill her contract, but Leo, who wants to write serious literature, is helped when a sympathetic magazine editor Ángel offers her a job as a literary critic.

Leo breaks down when Paco finally rejects her, but her publishers are thrilled with the 'Amanda Gris' novel they have received - but who wrote it?

Shelf or charity shop?  The ravishingly-photographed LA FLOR DE MI SECRETO surprises me every time I watch it with Marisa Paredes' wonderful performance and supporting contributions from Juan Echanove as Ángel, Imanol Arias as Paco, Rossy de Palma and Chus Lampreave so it's a keeper - Almodóvar even manages to sneak flamenco sensation Joaquín Cortés into the film in a sub-plot!

DVD/150: KIKA (Pedro Almodóvar, 1993)

KIKA almost works but the combination of an unfocused storyline and uninvolving characters leaves it frustratingly adrift.

It feels like Verónica Forqué's Kika was supposed to be the focus but Almodóvar changed his mind to focus on a satirical take on reality television.

Kika is a Madrid make-up artist who loves photographer Ramón although she occasionally sleeps with his father, American writer Nicholas, who has a strained relationship with Ramón who suspects him of being involved in his mother's suicide.

Nicolas provides storylines to an exploitative reality show presented by Ramón's former lover, Andrea Scarface, When an escaped prisoner rapes Kika, footage of it is shown on Andrea's show but as Kika's life crumbles, Andrea realizes that Nicholas is not all he seems...

Forqué and Rossy de Palma shine but are swamped by the lacklustre performances of Victoria Abril as Scarface and miscast (and dubbed) Peter Coyote as Nicholas.

 

 

Shelf or charity shop? Will stay on the shelf as it's part of an Almodóvar box-set but not viewed much..  Gaultier's frocks are as outrageous as one might expect!

 

DVD/150: ATAME! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!) (Pedro Almodóvar, 1989)

Ricky has a goal: to find Marina, a former one-night stand, and make her love him, marry him and have their children... and now he's released from the psychiatric home...

Almodóvar set the cat among the PC pigeons with the scenes of violent attack and bondage - and America definitely had issues with it's two lead actresses seen peeing - but the shock has evaporated and what emerges is an oddly tender story - with restraint.

Antonio Banderas channels his four previous Almodóvar roles into Ricky and is sensational: dangerously unhinged but played so sympathetically that he delivers a real breakout performance which was his calling card to Hollywood; it would be 22 years before he worked with Pedro again.

I never warmed to Victoria Abril in any of her three three lead Almodóvar roles; here she fades against Banderas' electricity and the machine-gun attack of Loles Leon as her sister.   

Shelf or charity shop?  With nice cameos for three Almodóvar actressses: Maria Barranco, Rossy de Palma and Julieta Serrano - and a jaw-droppingly hilarious tv ad for pensions - ATAME! is tied onto the shelf...

Dvd/150: MUJERES AL BORDE DE UN ATAQUE DE NERVIOS (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) (Pedro Almodóvar, 1988)

30 years on, the film that catapulted Almodóvar to international acclaim still glows with colour, fun and warmth.

Pepa is desperate... she's burned the bed, filled the Gazpacho with tranquilizers and ripped the phone out because her lover Ivan has left her and is not returning her calls....

But she is interrupted by her friend Candela, on the run now the police have arrested her lover as a terrorist, and Carlos and Marisa who arrive to view the flat...   and Carlos is Ivan's estranged son.  Outside, Ivan's wife Lucia, institutionalized for 20 years after he left her, is out for revenge...

Almodóvar allows the farce to develop at it's own unforced pace which allow you to fully appreciate Carmen Maura's magnificent performance as Pepa.

Almodóvar's glorious ensemble includes Julieta Serrano (Lucia), Antonio Banderas (Carlos), Rossy de Palma (Marisa), Maria Barranco (Candela), Fernando Guillén (Ivan) and Kiti Manver as his lover.

Shelf or charity shop?  As long as I have a shelf... this will be on it!