Quick takes on 5 Almodóvar films

Awhile back I saw Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Pain and Glory, and absolutely loved it. Having not seen any of his other films, I’m going back to some of his earlier stuff, starting with 1986’s Matador. It’s about a former celebrated matador named Diego, now retired after a goring has left him with a limp in one leg, and he runs a bullfighting school. On the side, he’s a serial killer. Stay with me for a second. One of his students is Angel (a young Antonio Banderas), who’s a bit of a mama’s boy, living under her strict religious eye. When his manhood is questioned by Diego, Angel tries to prove his worth by raping Diego’s young, hot model girlfriend Eva. The attempted rape doesn’t go over so well as Angel ejaculates early before penetration. Wracked with guilt though, he goes to turn himself in to the police station. When Eva laughs it off and refuses to press charges, Angel instead admits to a couple unsolved murders (of Diego’s doing). Stepping in to defend Angel is another beauty, a sexy lawyer named Maria. Unbeknownst to all, Maria is also a serial killer, and her motives become clear later on in the film. It’s a wild ride, and most of it is good. As the police and our two killers circle each other, there are some great moments, however, the film is dragged down by some weird deus ex machina stuff in the end. There’s also lots of gratuitous sex scenes, which do nothing to advance the plot or develop our characters, and seem to have been thrown in by a young director trying to push the envelope. Still, there’s enough here to see where Almodóvar could grow from. ★★½

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is incredible. A true screwball comedy with a dark undertone, it follows a woman named Pepa who’s just been dumped by her older boyfriend Ivan. Pepa and Ivan are both TV actors, and Ivan’s been having a long affair with Pepa, against his wife Lucia. The movie takes place over 2 days, as Pepa tries to track Ivan down, apparently to give him a piece of her mind, but he continually evades her. Meanwhile, a host of zany characters parade through, in a series of amazing coincidences. A wild cab driver who only plays mambo music and offers reading material to his fares; Ivan’s stuttering son Carlos and his domineering fiancée Marisa; and Pepa’s friend Candela, who’s become mixed up white Shiite terrorists intent on hijacking a flight to Stockholm. And Ivan’s crazy wife Lucia. And some bumbling cops. The layers are on this film just keep going, and it all weaves together deliciously well. I laughed out loud throughout. The movie was a smashing success, putting Almodóvar on the international stage. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars, and won 5 Goya Awards (Spain’s version of the Oscar). ★★★★★

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! stars Antonio Banderas, and was his breakout role. Seen in both of the films reviewed above, as well as 2 other earlier Almodóvar films, this one brought Banderas international acclaim. He plays Ricky, a young man who has just been let go from a mental institution, partly due to his sexual prowess with the female director and nurses. Unfortunately he is anything but mentally stable, and has a John Hinckley Jr thing for Marina, a former porn star turned actress. Once free, Ricky heads straight for Marina’s latest movie set. He follows her home, where he forces himself into her room and takes her hostage. Instead of immediately assaulting her, he starts telling her that he is only there to get her to fall in love with him, so they can get married and raise a family. He only roughs her up a bit when she tries to scream, but otherwise fulfills her every need, while evading her worried sister Lola, who keeps coming around to check on the supposedly missing Marina. Almodóvar’s take on Stockholm syndrome, this movie starts out great, with laughs, intrigue, and thrills, but it dies in the second half. Banderas is fantastic as the likable bad guy, and Victoria Abril as Marina shows a fantastic range, but the movie is awfully sexist looking back on it in as a view from 2020. ★★★

All About My Mother returns to a woman as the central character, and again Almodóvar hits it out of the park. Manuela is a nurse and single mother to her 17-year-old son Esteban. Esteban has always been curious about his father, who died before he was born, but Manuela has never told Esteban about him. She promises to later that night, the day of Esteban’s birthday, but he is tragically killed in a car accident before Manuela can. Afterwards, we learn that the father is alive, a secret Manuela kept all of her life. She goes to find him in Barcelona, to give him the news. She isn’t able to find him, but does find old and new friends, and is able to be a mother to them. Agrado is a transgender prostitute who gets beaten up in her work; Rosa is a nun in a predicament, with a baby on the way after having gotten pregnant from non other than Manuela’s ex; and Huma is a talented actress with codependency issues with her partner. Manuela nurses them all back to health in their own ways, while grieving through the loss of Esteban. There’s some brevity here and there, but this film is a straight forward drama, and a damn good one too. All of the women give top-notch performances, lead by Cecilia Roth as Manuela, Marisa Paredes as Huma, and Penélope Cruz as Rosa. A story about caring, forgiveness, acceptance, growing as a human being, and moving on from heartache and loss. ★★★★½

Talk to Her, from 2002, is a beautiful, almost lyrical film, which is fitting as it revolves around a dancer, though one that we never see perform. The movie opens at a performance where two men, strangers, are seated next to each other. Benigno is a nurse who works at a coma ward, and particularly cares for a young dancer named Alicia, who’s been in a coma for a couple years. He talks to her, reads to her, tells her about movies he’s seen and dance performances he’s attended. The man seated next to Benigno that night is Marco, who shortly thereafter starts dating a female matador named Lydia. A couple months later, Lydia is gored badly and also ends up in a coma, in the same ward as Alicia. Benigno recognizes Marco from that one evening, and the two form a friendship. We learn in flashback, as Benigno relates his story to Marco, that he was obsessed with Alicia before the car accident which put her in the coma, watching her practice at the dance studio across from his apartment. This obsession lands Benigno in major trouble in the final third of the film, but just when I thought the picture was running off the rails, it is brought back beautifully before the end. It’s a touching film about love and friendship, and I loved the way it unfolded for the viewer. ★★★★★