Tag: Almodóvar
Kika
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, 1993
Déjà vu abounds in Kika, a brief return to the sort of hair-brained frivolity that characterised Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown. Parallels might also be drawn with Almodóvar’s ¡átame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!) (1990), another film in which the director treats a sexual attack on a woman …
Law of Desire (La Ley del Deseo)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, 1987
There’s much to like about the performances in Law of Desire. Eusebio Poncela plays a marvellously ambivalent, sexually ambiguous film director as his insouciance gives way to raw emotion while Carmen Maura takes well to her role as his gold-hearted, rough diamond sister.
But the real turn here is delivered by Antonio Banderas …
High Heels (Tacones Lejanos)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, 1991
The early 90s represent a busy, transitionary period for Almodóvar. And during that period, he takes on multiple muses having apparently fallen out with Carmen Maura. His two key players are Marisa Paredes and the delectable Victoria Abril, both of whom spring up here to lead this oddball of a movie.
Abril is …
La Flor de mi Secreto (the Flower of my Secret)
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, 1995
You get the very distinct sense when watching La Flor that Almodóvar is onto something. And so the maturity and virtuosity of his output has increased with each film ever since.
As a writer of great female parts, he’s blessed here with a strong performance from Marisa Paredes who as the protagonista Leo …
Dark Habits
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, 1983
This colourful film, about a nightclub singer on the run who holes up in a convent only to find the nuns are worse sinners than her, is the first of Almodóvar’s oeuvre made with full production.
As if on cue, the set design is suddenly marvellous, the story detail considerably richer than …
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, 1988
This is a decorated film – five Goyas and an Oscar nomination – and an international breakthrough for the director, but it didn’t sit too well with me.
Almodóvar’s screwball comedy cocktail has all of the lurid colour but lacks the bitter edge that adds bite to his more emotive works. After …
Volver
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, 2006
Almodóvar ‘returns’ once more with an(other) extraordinary story about women and he coaxes a fine performance from leading lady Penélope Cruz.
In Volver, the director substitutes the gaucheness of Bad Education for the emotionally involving characterisation of All About My Mother and the film is predictably unpredictable, with typically serpentine plotting.
Ultimately though, …
Pepi, Luci, Bom
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Spain, 1981
This is where it all began, the first in a long line of zany, colourful and passionate tales whose collective carnival forms the prodigious output of Almodóvar.
Pepi, Luci, Bom gels remarkably considering the conditions in which it was shot. It’s the story of three very different women in a world bursting with …
Elsewhere on MikePadgett.com …
Midnight Run
Director: Martin Brest United States, 1988 This is a buddy-road movie, but it’s sharp enough and clever enough to outrun just about all of the chasers in what is a horribly overpopulated subgenre. Bounty hunter …
- Originally published: 17 Feb 2007 in Film
Mean Streets
Director: Martin Scorsese United States, 1973 It’s only his third feature film, yet Mean Streets is a surprisingly mature work from Scorsese. The machine gun dialogue, the inquisitive camera, the guilt and redemption themes: …
- Originally published: 30 Aug 2006 in Film
Working in Leeds
I’m currently working in Leeds on Flash sites for a number of well-known brands. I hadn’t really seen the city for a long time, so it was quite a surprise when …
- Originally published: 19 Apr 2006 in Editorial
Warche and Warenne
A quiet corner of the Belgian Ardennes, the Warche-Warenne valley is just east of Malmedy. Highlights on this walk included the beautifully restored Château Reinhardstein (originally dates from 1354), long riverside sections and …
- Originally published: 23 Aug 2009 in Walking
Ten years of the Euro
A decade ago today, the single European currency – the ‘Euro’ for short – was introduced. The Euro is not just a currency, of course, but the very symbol of European integration. Source: …
- Originally published: 1 Jan 2009 in Editorial
Who is that guy?
Hello you. I'm Mike Padgett and I work in the technology sector as an Information Designer.
I also enjoy travel, concerts, films and walking.
I'm based in Brussels, Belgium. My current favourite Belgian beer is St Feuillien Brune.