Beauty Break: When Almodóvar met Alcaine

by Cláudio Alves

Starting yesterday, Strange Way of Life is streaming on Netflix. To commemorate the occasion, I thought about diving into the collaboration between Pedro Almodóvar and cinematographer José Luis Alcaine, a recurring creative partner since they filmed Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown back in the late 80s. Even though I had issues with the short film, its lensing wasn't one of them. Indeed, playing with Western iconography and Saint Laurent fashions, Strange Way of Life is as visually enchanting as one would expect from something bearing the Spanish auteur's signature. When everything else fails, Alcaine creates hyper-artificial frames, popping with bright colors and luster…

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Best Performances by Actors in Limited Roles

Andrew Scott gives incredible cynical cameo in "1917"

And now a semi-tangential train of thought. Over the 20 years of doing the Film Bitch Awards we've noticed that our cameo categories have gone from being a fun place to shine the spotlight on unknown actors who we're curious about to an annual war between not-quite household names or "it" girls and guys who are appearing in everything. The problem for lesser known actors trying to catch a break these days is that we're long past the years when mid-level stars, or even major stars, had egos about the size of their roles. More and more stars will happily become day-players as if everyone wants to be working 24/7 and has never heard of the concept of over-exposure...

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