The Final Take with Parker Mott

3 Stars out of 4
(117 minutes)

A medical film without the science is Pedro Almodovar's The Skin I Live In.

The Skin I Live In is a mighty fetish that twists and turns (and, at times, creaks) through to the finish. It’s one of Almodovar’s darkest atnd perturbed melodramas that thrusts from the past and present in a glorious mess. It’s about the obsession with identity and perfecting the flesh covering our bones, the mere decor of our bodies.

The film is grounded in a character’s peculiar passion in something very complicated called transgenesis, which – I have researched – involves transferring an organism’s gene to another in order to alter its bodily functions. (continue reading…)

3.5 Stars out of 4
(101 minutes)

All About My Mother

It flatters me to see a director Pedro Almodóvar appreciate his audience so much. His film All About My Mother is so close to parody yet it deals with characters who take matters very seriously. The film lacks all sobriety by putting us into a world that’s sadness is dissolved through the flashy art decor and extremely elegant-colorful shot display. Yet this is a tragedy, perhaps that is why the film is so intriguing. The fact that it fantasizes about tragedy while comedically hinting at the passion of cinema’s effect assures Almodóvar’s direction is aplomb. (continue reading…)

3.5 Stars out of 4
(112 minutes)

Communicating in their dreams in Talk To Her.

What makes Pedro Almodóvar’s films so effective is that he explores melodrama but he does not makes his films about melodrama. He gives freedom to his actors. They act and he directs. It creates a passionate story. A director with true confidence. In his 2002 work Talk To Her, Almodóvar finds this deep compassion in his characters. They’re chemistry pulses and it seems like they have known each other forever and they carry some fond and some harsh memories of each other. Talk To Her is nostalgic and very important. It paints a different art form of the surreal. What goes on in the minds of the comatose? But Talk To Her does not bury itself in first-hand subconscious clichés, it provides itself with the space to craft its characters and their relationships. That makes Talk To Her brilliant. There are just so many angles to approach it. (continue reading…)