It was with great shame Friday that I realized I'm So Excited had landed and I hadn't done that Entire Retrospective of Pedro Almodóvar's Filmography that I suggested I'd be doing all spring. And here we are in July. My plans are always much larger than the hours filling each day as you know.
I know a lot of people aren't crazy about the new picture I'm So Excited (reviewed) which is a very silly raunchy gay comedy but I laughed a lot. I'm going again with friends this weekend because what better way to celebrate America's Independence than... uh... catching a Pedro movie! Support your world class auteurs so that all movies without superheroes don't end up going straight to VOD by 2017.
Herewith the Almodóvar Filmography with a few notes...
1978 His first full length film was on Super 8 and called Folle, folle, fólleme, Tim... (Fuck Me Fuck Me Fuck Me Tim) starring Carmen Maura, the first muse. Sometimes I don't believe this movie exists. I've never been able to find it and it sure would be a cool curio to see.
1980 Pepi, Luci, Bom which is officially his debut film (sorry, Tim!) and also difficult to find. These first two -- I wanted to go chronologically -- tripped up my plans for that retrospective.
1982 Labyrinth of Passion (The Film Debut of Antonio Banderas. Pedro's only significant male muse)
1983 Dark Habits I always think of this one about drug-addled sex-crazed nuns as Pedro's John Waters movie... though obviously Pedro is a far superior filmmaker. It's just that they share a love of bad taste.
1984 What Have I Done To Deserve This This oddity about an apartment block housing a telekinetic child and a woman with a terrible idea of parenting (yes, do sell off your son to that pervy dentist!) is definitely worth seeking out
1986 Matador This was the only Almodóvar movie I ever (initially) hated but on second viewing for Hit Me With Your Best Shot I became a fan.
1987 Law of Desire is my personal favorite for nostalgia and queer reasons. This was the first Pedro film I was culturally aware of (I read a review in the Detroit Free Press and was desperate, but too young, to see it). I saw it for the first time in college in the early Nineties and to date it's the Pedro film I've seen the most often with four viewings.
1988 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was my first moviegoing trip to Almodóvarland. Many people around the world can claim the same. This neurotic gazpacho loving comedy was the auteur's global breakthrough becoming a huge arthouse hit in many countries, winning his first Oscar nomination and establishing Pedro as his own must-see "brand".
1990 Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! This erotic drama about a man kidnapping a porn actress started the short-lived reign of Victoria Abril as chief muse. It was rated NC-17 and very scandalous at the time for its nudity and epic simultaneous orgasm sex scene. It's also, prurient-interest scandals aside, very good.
1991 High Heels I can't explain or remember why I haven't seen this one. Have you?
1993 Kika Abril's last moment as Almodóvar's principle muse. Why'd they break up so quickly? I've only seen this once and the most vivid memory, beyond the costuming, is a sticky one. Almodovar was making jizz-on-the-face jokes four years before Happiness & There's Something About Mary were doing it in American cinema.
1995 The Flower of My Secret is generally regarded as the turning point in his oeuvre when he became "respectable" and less campy. Starring Marisa Paredes who has appeared in six of his films
1997 Live Flesh (Enter Penélope Cruz... albeit briefly) I know many people who swear by this movie and though it has its moments, I've never been particularly fond of it despite an excellent utilization of Javier Bardem in an early charismatic performance.
1999 All About My Mother the Oscar Winning masterpiece
2002 Talk to Her Another Oscar winning masterpiece
2004 Bad Education Pedro's third consecutive awesomeness in his most acclaimed period. Gael García Bernal was more than worthy of a Best Actor & Best Actress nomination, right?
2006 Volver (Penélope Cruz Ascends) Here Pedro suddenly entered that weird career position, familiar only to greats but dichomotously enviable/pitiable, of 'so great you're taken for granted'. The Film Experience is firmly of the position that this belongs in the same hallowed hall, with no conditions, as his two most universally lauded pictures (i.e. All About Talking to My Mother). Instead the response was curiously shruggy, like, "well, it's no Talk To Her"... as if that sort of universally successfully definitive career capper from a famous director (box office + critical hosannas + oscar + different enough but also exactly that director beauty) happens like every other week and we should expect it!
2009 Broken Embraces I've never warmed to this one, despite luminous work from Cruz.
2011 The Skin I Live In (The Return of Antonio!) Underloved but then it's far chillier than his films generally are. The auteur's first "horror" film of sorts, though he's always played with genre riffs.
A FEW MORE TIDBITS
My 5 favorites...
- Law of Desire
- Talk to Her
- Volver
- All About My Mother
- Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Javier Camara (Talk To Her, Bad Education) gets his third plum Pedro gig with "I'm So Excited"10 Most Frequent Repertory Players... (lemme know if i missed someone)
- Carmen Maura - 8 films (all but one are leading roles)
- Chus Lampreave - 8 films (supporting only)
- Antonio Banderas - 7 films (lead & supporting)
- Cecilia Roth - 7 films (lead & supporting)
- Marisa Paredes - 6 films (one lead, otherwise supporting)
- Rossy de Palma -6 films (supporting only... but that face!)
- Penélope Cruz - 5 films (lead & supporting)
- Julieta Serrano - 5 films (supporting only)
- Victoria Abril - 4 films (all but one are leading roles)
- Lola Dueñas - 4 films (supporting only)
Carmen Machi - 4 films (supporting only)
Kiti Manver - 4 films (supporting only)
So go see I'm So Excited (2013) because how many more Almodóvar's are we going to see in theaters? The Oscar winning auteur is now 63 years old. How long do you think he'll keep up his usual post-80s pace of a new movie every other year? He has nothing left to prove and with Penélope Cruz only intermittently available given her Hollywood success, he might actually be muse-free at the moment.