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Fiona Apple - The First Taste |
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Imagine a Hispanic soap opera with lots of unconventional characters and unpredictable twists, and that's what you get in movies written and directed by Pedro Almodovar. I love his films because his characters and stories are always interesting. Of all his movies, these would be his trademark films --- Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother), Hable Con Ella (Talk to Her), and La Mal Education (Bad Education).
 All About My Mother is a dazzling tribute to the Bette Davis and to all the women all over the world. It is my favorite among the three movies for three reasons. First, I adore Bette Davis and clips from her movie, All About Eve, abounded the film. Second, I love Tennessee William's A Streetcar Named Desire and many lines in the movie were inspired by this play. And third, simply because it is an unpretentious and sincere movie about friendship of women and those who are women by heart (haller).
Just like the typical Almodovar movies, the movie has a soap opera plot--- a pious woman getting pregnant, a grieving mother looking for her son's father, and the redemption of women in the end.
The women in this movie were divinity. Cecilia Roth was great, and Marisa Paredes was just amazing. Even the annoying Penelope Cruz was not annoying in this movie. Toni Canto and Antonia San Juan, a real life tranny, were also sensational.
 Talk to Her is, first and foremost, a love story, and an unusual one at that. It is also about 2 men's friendship connected by their love and dedication to their women who were both in coma. Among the three, it's Almodovar's quietest and most passionate piece. It never loses its charm after a number of viewing because one can easily relate to it. After all, we all have fallen in love at one point in our lives.
As expected, the cast was great. Javier Camara and Dario Grandinetti were wonderful. Leonor Watling was so beautiful, and the ballet in the movie was glorious.
Talk to Her has its share of soap opera moments--- a love betrayed, a comatose woman regaining her consciousness, and a series of miserable events before two lost lovers find each other.
 Bad Education is another typical Almodovar movie with your typical Aldomovar characters--- the trannies, the trash, and the junkies. It also has the typical Aldomovar soap opera twists--- people using people, characters assuming different identities, a love triangle, deception, and lots of blackmailing.
Bad Education falls short compared to the other 2 because it is the least inspired. It serves its purpose during the first time you watch it, but after the second viewing (and I did watch it the second time), it gets tiring because of its utter pessimism. Not depressing, just tiring.
I feel that much sensitivity is lacking in Juan's character, and why he was the way he was was never adequately explained nor implied. In the end, he just comes off as some deranged wannabe actor worse than his brother Ignacio, and I know that there is more to him than that. Gael Garcia Bernal, as the drag queen Zahara, was beautiful, graceful, and credible. He was brilliance in one scene, that one where he was furiously bawling after shooting the last scene in The Visit. As Juan/ Angel, he is so convincing as a boy toy and a struggling actor. That same sensitivity is devoid in the grown up Ignacio's character played by Francisco Boira. He was a junkie and a tranny. Period. The drag queen in All About My Mother who fathered Penelope Cruz's baby was more memorable. Fele Martinez, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, and Lluis Homar were all good. Javier Camara as Paquito was brilliance through and through despite his short screen time. He is one of the reasons why one should watch this movie. Other reasons would be:
- to see Gael in drag.
- to see Gael in wet and skimpy briefs.
- to see Gael's naked and delicious butt.
- to see Gael being bottomed.
- to see Gael in a passionate anal sex.
- to see Gael giving someone a head.
- to see Gael's nipple being licked.
WAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAA.
Seriously, it's good, and the shots were very beautiful, but I did not like it all that much. There is little dignity in Almodovar's homosexual characters, and this being a dark film does not excuse this.
With my slight disappointment in Almodovar's last film, I can only imagine the final scene in All About My Mother. That scene never fails to amaze me, and just thinking about it now sends chills down my spine. Huma (played by the amazing Marisa Paredez), assuming the character of Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire, turned to Manuela (brilliantly played by Cecilia Roth) in the backstage before leaving for the stage to perform and said with all conviction, I will be back.
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