Bad Education / Great Movie

by Nathaniel R

Gael García Bernal as "Juan & Ignacio & Angel & Zahara" simultaneously.

Heads up that I had the beautiful opportunity to talk Pedro Almodóvar as the guest on this week's Water Cooler podcast over at Awards Daily. It was a true pleasure to revisit his twisty provocative melodrama Bad Education (2004). Almodóvar movies nearly always improve on revisits (and they're great the first time so that's quite a feat). My theory is that it's because they're often so novelistic and twisty with plot and layered with meaning. That's true of this trans noir in particular as it's a movie (period drama - but are they flashbacks or the fictional movie?) within a movie (scripted/filming) within a movie. Multiple actors play the same roles... only not exactly. The head spins. The pulse races (Gael García Bernal looks ...um... good... in wet underwear) Longtime readers may recall that Bernal was nominated at TFE for Best Actor that year. He's playing multiple characters in a way that's both intentionally performative and cleverly obfuscated. It's a pretty remarkable star turn and it's tragic that Pedro and Gael never worked together again! Give it a listen. 

"Ema" at Sundance

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

Chilean director Pablo Larraín was last at the Sundance Film Festival with frequent collaborator Gael García Bernal in 2013 for the Oscar-nominated No. Since then, he’s earned two additional bids from the Golden Globes in the foreign language category for The Club and Neruda. He even made his first film in English: Jackie. Now, Larraín is back with another Bernal film, showing in the Spotlight section after its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival.

Though Bernal plays a substantial role, this film is all about actress Mariana Di Girolamo. She stars as the title character, who is married to Bernal’s choreographer character...

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Beauty Break: Almodóvar's Eye Candy

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…

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Latin American happenings in the Oscar submission realm

by Nathaniel R

In the heat of festival season we're also getting continued news about the Oscar race for Best International Feature. In terms of South America we'd already heard about submissions from the Dominican Republic (The Projectionist), Ecuador (The Longest Night which is sometimes referred to as Mala Noche), Panama (Everybody Changes), and Uruguay (The Moneychangers). There are three more already announced that will likely have higher profiles due to familiar actors. Colombia has Monos starring Julianne Nicholson, Cuba has A Translator starring Rodrigo Santoro and of course there's Brazil's Un Certain Regard-winning melodrama The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao which feels like a probable finalist / possible nominee. It's very moving and accessible and Fernanda Montenegro (of Central Station fame) adds a last boost of melancholy and nostalgia to it in terms of Brazilian cinema and Oscar affections. To add to that stack of films we've just learned that Bolivia will submit the gay drama Tu Me Manques (I Miss You) which is based on a hit stage play about a father visiting the boyfriend of his dead son in New York City. It recently won the screenwriting award at OutFest. The director Rodrigo Bellott was submitted once before for his artsy college film Sexual Dependency (2003). The film stars Oscar Martinez (Wild Tales) as the estranged father, Fernando Barbosa as his son's boyfriend, and features Rossy de Palma who is, of course, beloved from many Almodóvar pictures.

After the jump the finalists announced for both Chile and Mexico. Which films will they choose we wonder...

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Nominations for the 61st Arieles Are Announced

by Jorge Molina

Award season is a misnomer. Movie awards are a year-long, worldwide affair. At the end of last month the Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences (AMACC) announced its nominees for the 61st annual Ariel awards, celebrating the films of 2018.

As you undoubtedly would expect, Alfonso Cuarón’s multi-celebrated, Oscar-winning Roma garnered the most nominations, with 15. It was followed by Museo, by Alonso Ruizpalacios, and The Good Girls by Alejandra Márquez Abella (still awaiting US distribution), with 14 each.

You can see a full list of the nominees after the jump with a bit of trivia and commentary [UPDATED IN JULY: WE'VE ALSO NOTATED WHICH FILM WON EACH PRIZE AT THE CEREMONY. WINNERS ARE MARKED WITH A STAR]...

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