Word: almodovar
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People in Pedro Almodovar films, though, never learn quite fast enough to cope with the wild, melodramatic twists the Spanish writer-director hurls their way like grenades. That's one of the lovely things about Almodovar epics like Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!: they give you three movies' worth of plot in a fast 100 minutes or so. His sensuous, delirious new film, Live Flesh, has plenty. Victor is involved with two women, Clara and Elena (the sorcerous Francesca Neri), both of whom are married to jealous policemen. The story...
...excited about the new Pedro Almodovar movie, which will be released in New York in May. We think Almodovar is great; we concede that he's misogynistic, but we like him anyway. His movies are always really nice looking with lots of bright colors. That one actress he uses, the one with the crooked nose, has a weird and compelling face worthy of Fellini. She will be in the new movie, whose title we can't remember. Even better, Gaultier and Versace will be doing the costuming. Caramba...
European directors like Bernardo Bertolucci and Pedro Almodovar are railing against their American colleagues' support of the GATT deal, which would remove European quotas for local movies. "There will be no European film industry by the year 2000," they claim. Could be -- if Hollywood keeps giving European moviegoers what they want and home-grown auteurs make art-house flops...
Excellent acting renders these unusual characters believable. Maura, who starred in "Women on the Verge," plays the transsexual Tina with relish. Maura is an actress who, as Almodovar has written, "enlarges in front of the camera." With her wide-eyed insouciance, she looks like the girl-(or former boy)-next-door, whether she's singing a hymn at the altar, snorting a line of coke or vaulting over a bar counter. Banderas (of "Mambo Kings" and "Truth or Dare") is hilarious as the appealingly deranged fan, and Poncelas convincingly portrays the oddly down-to-earth avant-garde director...
...Desire" also shows off the vibrant, stylish production Almodovar is justly famous for. The movie plays slyly with dubbing and visual perspective in a way that never comes off as precious; Almodovar is careful not to let his tricks upstage the story he tells. Half romance, half horror flick, "Law of Desire" displays a ferocious energy sadly lacking from Almodovar's more recent efforts; it showcases the full talents of a director who can make audiences squirm...