Certified Bitstastic
A transportive feature from Almodóvar: a magical and personal film, with liberal doses of comedy and pathos, shades of Fellini, and an idiosyncratic charm that will leave a smile lingering on your face.
For the 21st film in his illustrious career, the 69-year-old Pedro Almodóvar has written and directed a film about facing mortality. Like the lead character in PAIN AND GLORY (Dolor y Gloria), he has penned something of a naked confessional for film literate audiences that also has a universality in its appeal.
Almodóvar’s proxy in this tale is Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas), a filmmaker in a creative rut suffering a range of physical and mental illnesses. A revival of an old film prompts him to reach out to its lead (Asier Etxeandia), and the reunion after 30 years leads Salvador to try and become addicted to heroin.
The contemporary story is juxtaposed with his earlier life. The heroin sparks dreamlike flashbacks to growing up with his father and mother (Penélope Cruz) in a village apartment that resembles a cave. What emerges is a tapestry of a life, the history of Salvador’s sexuality, and a love letter to cinema.
You don’t have to look too deeply into PAIN AND GLORY to start calling comparisons to Federico Fellini. While there is definitely a parallel with 8½, a film that has inspired everyone from Woody Allen to Charlie Kaufman, this is unquestionably an idiosyncratic drumbeat present that Almodóvar has been beating for decades. After all, the lead is a gay director whose back catalogue sharply resembles Almodóvar’s own, arguably making this his most personal work to date as well.
Banderas steps up to the plate to deliver one of his finest performances to date. Already winning him the best actor award at the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival this year, the line between the frequent Almodóvar collaborator and his director is blurred. One of his character’s directions to an actor is to look as though you’re about to cry all the time, which is exactly where Banderas sits for most of this. Cruz and Etxeandia are excellent in their respective roles. A small but significant part for Leonardo Sbaraglia (Red Lights) is one of the high points of Salvador’s arc.
Unlike his avatar in the film, Almodóvar continues to prove that he isn’t Despite some heavy themes and some honest emotional turns, PAIN AND GLORY offers a number of delightful surprises – including an infrographic tracing Salvador’s life – that is likely to leave you in the embrace of cinema’s warm glowing warming glow.
2019 | Spain| DIRECTOR: Pedro Almodóvar | WRITERS: Pedro Almodóvar | CAST: Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Penélope Cruz | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures Films (AUS)| RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 7 June 2019 (SFF)
