by Cláudio Alves
César Vicente in PAIN & GLORY (2019).
Before Martin Scorsese ignited the internet's fury with his comments about the MCU, another master filmmaker had already made headlines with less than complimentary opinions on the matter. Back in April, before he took his glorious Pain & Glory to Cannes, Pedro Almodóvar criticized superhero movies for having no sexuality. According to the Spanish auteur, they are neutered.
When compared against his passionate filmography they are piteously sexless indeed. But so are most movies. Few filmmakers have explored the many permutations of desire as thoroughly as Almodóvar has, usually with a patina of irreverent queerness. From killers in skimpy white briefs to ballets of bulges and sculpted asses, his camera is always ready to lick an actor's body and crystalize them into divinities of wantonness.
You're invited to peruse the director's gallery of beautiful men, starting at the dawn of his career and ending with Pain & Glory's first bloom of desire. Come see Almodóvar's NSFW eye candy…
Antonio Banderas and Imanol Arias have a steamy encounter in LABYRINTH OF PASSION (1982).
Luis Hostalot is Carmen Maura's temptation in WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS? (1984).
;)
In MATADOR (1986), a film where sex and death are always hand-in-hand, Antonio Banderas is breathtakingly beautiful.
LAW OF DESIRE (1987) starts with what is probably the most erotic opening scene in all of cinema. Nothing could be more appropriate for Almodóvar's horniest masterpiece.
It also features many visions of Banderas as a diabolically delectable murderer.
TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN! (1989) is a collection of peculiar sights where kinkiness and absurdity intersect.
THE FLOWER OF MY SECRET (1995) is one of my favorite Almodóvar's and there's even some eye candy to add flavor to the sweet melodrama.
Liberto Rabal is turned into a monument of lust in LIVE FLESH (1997), the perfect subject for Almodóvar's queer gaze.
After LAW OF DESIRE, BAD EDUCATION (2004) is Almodóvar's sexiest work. Few things can beat the allure of Gael García Bernal getting out of a pool in wet briefs.
Daniel Grao is a beautiful lover in Almodóvar's underrated JULIETA (2016).
And we'll end with the first desire, PAIN & GLORY's best scene which is both sensuous and funny, touching and gorgeous.
Who’s the sexiest of them all?