Exceedingly fine. After two films that didn’t quite ring the bell, Pedro Almodóvar returns to his best form in semi-autobiographical mode. With a longstanding Federico Fellini affinity that goes back to the ‘80s in raw, edgy films like LABYRINTH OF PASSION, the echoes of 8½ and AMARCORD are no surprise here. But whereas Fellini’s early classicism curdled into mannerism & excess as he got older, Almodóvar has moved in the opposite direction with some of the cleanest narrative & least fussy visuals of his career, yet without sacrificing his signature intensely colored dramatic schemes & style. An art now so easeful & natural, you feel many will miss it, along with all that’s going on below the immaculate surface. Playing a filmmaker in triple crisis (personal, health, career), Antonio Banderas channels Fellini alter-ego Marcello Mastroianni as much as Almodóvar, as he attempts to reboot his life and heal all the mental & physical pains by successively trying out drugs, sex, work, love & memory. Memory does the trick (along with a successful medical operation!); no surprise when your memory of Mom looks like Penélope Cruz . (Nitpickers will note that Julieta Serrano makes an unlikely elderly version of Ms. Cruz.) It’s a lovely film, with a lovely, well-earned happy ending.
DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned above, the two Fellini classics (though AMARCORD is awfully self-indulgent), but why not investigate the early, less known wilds of the young Almodóvar: LABYRINTH OF PASSION/’82 and MATADOR/’86 each especially good.
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