pain and glory
That’s Pedro-biz…
Pedro Almodóvar looks at his life through a lens.
OUT 23 AUGUST
Even if Pedro Almodóvar has never been coy about cannibalising his own work, his 21st feature might be his most overtly self-reflexive film yet. Happily, it also gives self-absorption a good name. A warm, wry and wistful memory movie, Pain And Glory flaunts its self-awareness brazenly. And, helped by a poignant lead performance, it showcases the rewards of long-haul star/director chemistry in a character who embodies that bond.
With his sharp threads and greying thatch, veteran Almodó-star Antonio Banderas lovingly echoes his director as Salvador Mallo, an ageing gay filmmaker convinced his creative light is dying. Plagued by ailments, Mallo CERTIFICATE 15 DIRECTOR Pedro Almodóvar STARRING Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz SCREENPLAY Pedro Almodóvar DISTRIBUTOR 20th Century Fox/Pathé RUNNING TIME 113 mins
is considering retirement. But when a screening of his 32-year-old film approaches, he rekindles connections with heroin-using star Alberto (Asier Etxeandia), develops his own dragonchasing habit and begins to reflect on the events that brought him here.
now and Then
As Mallo recalls his youth in rural Italy, his doting mother (Penélope Cruz), his young desires, his school, his loves and more, Almodóvar navigates present/past with a fluent musicality that recalls 2016’s flashback-enriched Julieta. Echoes of Almodóvar films from 1987’s Law Of Desire to 2004’s Bad Education also reverberate, recast in a typically sensual yet newly tender-true spirit. Even if fans miss his early work’s subversive glee, his mid-period punch or his later experimental gambits, the wrong-footing shift to a ruminative key here offers its own quiet rewards.
Not that you could miss Almodóvar’s imprint. From the leaking oil paints of the opening titles on, his reliably expressive colours resemble optical opiates; veteran DoP José Luis Alcaine makes sure they always deliver a pure hit. The cast, meanwhile, perform as if the director’s DNA is in their veins. While Banderas and Cruz give terrifically compassionate, composed and alive performances, support turns from Julieta Serrano (Salvador’s ageing mother), Leonardo Sbaraglia (Salvador’s lover) and Asier Flores (Salvador the younger) major in on-point nuance.
True, Almodóvar’s emphasis on minutiae over energetic flourishes can mean Pain And Glory sometimes lacks momentum. But he meanders with a light step and nurtures fertile seeds of autumnal melancholy along the way. That may mean retirement is on the cards for Almodóvar, but his supple tonal control also accommodates alternative possibilities. With one last, lovely meta-twist, he leaves us with the hope of more to come, extending a body of work that remains, miraculously, ever-evolving. Kevin Harley
tHE VERDiCt
With Banderas back on peak form, Almodóvar’s minor-key beauty milks gains from his pains.