Mr. Movie: Pedro Almodovar

My friend Jim was pretty much a mainstream guy about most things. Like all of us, he had some quirks. Like Cuban music (!). And, he was just enamored with the films of Spanish director and screenwriter Pedro Almodovar. He could have done worse! Almodovar has churned out one strange but good film after another. Let’s look at some of his best.

Almodovar has won dozens of award for his screenplays. He even has an American Academy Award for his screenplay Talk To Her (2003). You can count on him for something out of the envelope and this one is way out. Benigno and Marco have a strange thing in common. Each is in love with a different woman who is hospitalized in a coma. Benigno convinces Marco that he should constantly talk to the unconscious Lydia because people in a coma can hear what is said to them even though they don’t appear to react at all. From there it gets, well, very complicated. Stick with it. You won’t think “that’s just like another movie I’ve seen.”

One of the all-time great titles is Almodovar’s Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down (1989). Antonio Banderas is well-known to American audiences and is the star of this off-kilter film. He portrays Ricky, a recently released mental patient who becomes obsessed with Marina, a star in questionable movies. Ricky breaks into her apartment and takes her captive, assuring her that she will fall in love with him. And guess what? She does! When her sister Lola finds where she is being held, Marina tells her she does not want to escape, that she is in love with her captor.

Another great Almodovar title is Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (1988). Pepa Marcos is one of these women. She is a television actress whose main work is dubbing Spanish in foreign movies. Her boyfriend Ivan has the same job, dubbing male parts. He tells her to pack his things, he is leaving. She thinks he means forever. Her friend Candela enters the plot, with all sorts of complications. There is spiked gazpacho, and an apparent Arab terrorist plot to hijack a plane. Do not expect me to explain this. Just go with it!

Perhaps the most accessible Almodovar film is the fairly recent Parallel Mothers (2021). Janis (Penelope Cruz) and Ana (Milena Smit) meet at the hospital where both are delivering babies. Somehow their babies are switched and each departs with the other one’s baby. No one suspects anything until Arturo, who impregnated Janis, comes to see the baby and reacts strangely, saying he doesn’t think the baby is his. Janis conducts a DNA test which reveals she is not this baby’s mother. She runs into Ana who tearfully tells her that her baby is dead: Crib death. What should Janis do?

So, if you decide to dive in, should you watch Almodovar films in any particular order? No. They’re all frenetic, weird and stand alone. The standard reaction after seeing one of them is to be puzzled but delighted. 

All of the movies in this article are definitely for mature adults. All of the films in this article are available for streaming, though few are free. Just Google the title and click on “watch movie.” Good luck!