His signature themes of artifice and reality, sex and death may be served colder than usual, but the film is hotter than a blast furnace. Almodóvar’s usual farces and emotionally crippling melodramas, but diehard fans will not be disappointed. Prepare to be devastated.īad Education is a breathless and brilliant departure from Mr. Murder, religious hysteria and all manner of sexual variations ignite in a labyrinthine, impossible-to-describe combination of Fellini, pornography and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. To further complicate things, different versions of the story are told from varying points of view, like Rashômon.
Bernal playing multiple roles, including Ignacio his gay younger brother Juan, a ruthless hustler whom the priest falls for and the ill-fated drag queen Zahara. Is Ignacio really Angel, or just an actor who wants a great career-defining role? Soon the characters in the story end up as actors in the film and multiple stories intertwine, with Mr. But the handsome, clean-cut Ignacio insists on playing the drag queen, who may also be Angel. Enrique loves the story-part memory, part fantasy-and wants to buy it for his next film. Ignacio invents a fictional reunion in the 70’s, in which one boy is a suburban family man and the other is a drug-addicted transvestite named Zahara who poses as Ignacio’s sister and demands that the priest who abused Ignacio cough up the money for a sex change or face exposure as a pedophile. The story, which hopscotches from one time frame to the next, is about the experiences the two men suffered together in the 60’s and the jealous love of the priest that separated them. Ignacio, who sometimes calls himself Angel, has written a short story about their school days, and as the director reads it in bed, we see it acted out. Bernal), now an actor looking for a job in his next movie. Sixteen years later, in the 1980’s, Enrique (Fele Martinez), now a gay film director in Madrid, receives a surprise visit from Ignacio (Mr. Enrique and Ignacio, two schoolboy friends-and first loves-are sexually abused by a Catholic priest who profoundly affects (and infects) their lives. Almodóvar’s favorite obsessions: homoeroticism, crime, music, kinky sex, religious hypocrisy and the folklore of motion pictures. This autobiographical movie, while totally original and unlike anything you’ve ever seen, indulges all of Mr. Almodóvar’s celebrated career has always been defined by an inescapable adolescence. The combination is lush, lascivious and a cinematic lollapalooza. Y Tu Mamá También, Amores Perros, The Crime of Father Amaro and The Motorcycle Diaries made him as popular as margarita mix, but his sexy, brooding hothouse boyishness has never been as fully explored (and exploited) as it is in Pedro Almodóvar’s feverish, exotic and complex new film noir, Bad Education. "At the last minute, I felt insecure," is how Almodovar explains what happened, and though one has to respect his honesty, the dream of him collaborating with Streep is enough to haunt any cinephile for a fortnight.Gael García Bernal may be Mexico’s greatest export since Dolores Del Rio. One can imagine her amongst the hash of unique women in the director's now-classic All About My Mother, and it's easy to imagine her finding a comfortable place to push even her flexible boundaries under the direction of the man behind such wonders as Talk to Her, Bad Education, and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!. The actress's talents have often come into greatest relief in melodramas, as well as comedies and thrillers, and Almodovar is the undisputed king of modern melodrama. I honestly can't think of a better pairing than Streep and Almodovar.
The legendary actress was meant to play the titular role, and age along with the role in real time, whereas now the role is played by two separate performers. In an interview with Variety, which also touches on Almodovar's inclusion on the now-notorious Panama Papers, Almodovar describes the preparations that went into getting Julieta together, originally as an English-language melodrama, and a big name came attached to the production: Meryl Streep. Well, as it turns out, he was on the verge of making Julieta his first film made in the native stateside tongue, but a small crisis of confidence made him step back from that. Considering his reputation, one has to wonder how Almodovar hasn't arrived in America for an English-language debut yet.
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