![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Pain and Glory (spoiler free)
Nov. 1st, 2021 04:35 am
I have a mixed relationship with Almodovar's films. Some of them I adore and want to hug and squeeze so hard (Volver), some I wish I could scrub from my brain and forget I ever saw (Talk to Her). I love Antonio Banderas, and not just because he's half of one my big fandom slash pairings of old, but because I have huge respect for his willingness to play gay roles from back when that was widely regarded as career sabotage, in the 80s.
Pain and Glory has been on Hulu for a little while now - it sounded from the reviews like a departure from Almodovar's usual style, and I knew I'd have to be in the right mood to watch it, and that came today. Banderas plays an ageing writer and director who suffers from chronic pain and health conditions that trigger depression. He feels that if he's not physically fit enough to make films, his life is worthless, and the film looks back over episodes from that life, from his childhood and his early film career.
It's a good film; well shot, really well acted (Banderas deserves all the accolades he got for it). Slow and emotional, it has a few moments of humour to lift it, but not as many as is typical of Almodovar. Watched it, found it exactly as interesting as I'd expected, won't bother to go back there.
Pain and Glory has been on Hulu for a little while now - it sounded from the reviews like a departure from Almodovar's usual style, and I knew I'd have to be in the right mood to watch it, and that came today. Banderas plays an ageing writer and director who suffers from chronic pain and health conditions that trigger depression. He feels that if he's not physically fit enough to make films, his life is worthless, and the film looks back over episodes from that life, from his childhood and his early film career.
It's a good film; well shot, really well acted (Banderas deserves all the accolades he got for it). Slow and emotional, it has a few moments of humour to lift it, but not as many as is typical of Almodovar. Watched it, found it exactly as interesting as I'd expected, won't bother to go back there.
