I will be catching Pedro Almodovar‘s “Pain and Glory” this weekend. I do feel like I need to give it another shot, especially since my Cannes reaction was mostly muted to a somewhat tame “it’s good but not great” reaction.
In my 5.18.19 Cannes review I wrote:
“It pains me to say this, but Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory” a meta-infused narrative about the trials and tribulations the director has endured over his life, is an incredibly detached film that is very hard to warm up to. Do I respect it? Immensely. Do I think it warrants additional viewings? Of course. Am I on the fence about it at this very moment? You bet.”
Antonio Banderas won the Cannes Film festival’s Best Actor Prize by playing an openly gay film director looking back on his past, wondering where he stands in the present and worrying about what his future holds. Basically, Banderas was playing Almodóvar. The result is a meta-filled movie, but splattered with subtle hints about Almodovar’s personal life all over its sumptuously-lit frames.