Live Flesh
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Movie Reviews of Live Flesh
Movie Review: Amazing performance from the characters who collide with one another!
Summary: 4 Stars
What's special about Almodovar films is that he is able to explore the naked-ness of humanity creating this "Othello"-esque scenario wherein people are exposed as people -- human enough to feel, be hurt and heal.
Almodovar starts off with a simplistic cliché scenario, which would slowly unravel to become a complex story of human relationships taking risks on impulsive choices. To condense an Almodovar plot would be futile. It isn't because I'm lazy but because if one would attempt to do so, it would be a risk in making the film gratuitous and simplified when it isn't. You need to look at every part of the shot to see the details he is giving to the piece. Look at the sexual scenes; the balance he achieves: it's not so strong, but not soft either. It's subtle. His way of directing the actors is amazing. He writes the movie, and knows it more than anyone, so you know he is there to tell the cast what to do, and help them obtain their amazing performances. It's a visual style with life of its own.
I said it. There's cruelty and honesty at the same time. There's passion. There's betrayal, lies, sex. You see it in the characters, in their words. For example- When David arrives home and sees his wife Elena in bed, and starts to touch her; she doesn't like it. "What's the matter?" he asks. "It hurts", Elena answers. "Why?" he says. And with a face that involves everything I'm talking about, she looks at him: "Because I've been having sex all night"
I didn't really have a specific favorite scene because each act builds up on each other. The present scene would portray the consequence of the previous scene. This is a film of cause and effect. Unfortunately, the choices of the characters tend to lean towards the romantic but when they finally decide to be rational, the result would tend to lead to more complications. Complications that in the end allows each character to collide with one another.
What Almodovar came to do was to simply entertain his audience. And he does. He fills time with entertaining plot twists, interesting character developments and enough metaphors to keep people like I glued to the screen.
Movie Review: Strange, but undeniably entertaining
Summary: 4 Stars
Odd little film (even for Almodovar) that deals with the consequences faced by a prostitute's son when he shoots and paralyzes a police officer during a fight with a drug dealer...who turns out to be the cop's wife! Only Pedro Almodovar could have directed this strange little tale, adapted from Ruth Rendell's equally strange novel. It starts slowly, taking an almost aloof approach to the characters and situations, but once the plot swings into action, emotions and personalities (an Almodovar specialty) take center stage, and the film's tone begins to veer wildly from comedy to drama to tragedy to irony. Such a hodgepodge of moods shouldn't mesh, and in the hands of most other directors, this would be an incoherent mess. But Almodovar makes it work with strong characters and a remarkable sense of timing, both comedic and dramatic (especially near the end). Great performances (especially by Liberto Rabal, Javier Bardem, and the stunning Francesca Neri) are also a plus, and Almodovar was wise to pepper his film with strong personalities who make the emotional content of the film more believable, and certainly more palatable, especially when the viewer is subjected to sometimes wild swings in the film's tone. On a par with Almodovar's best works, such as "Talk to Her" and "Woman on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown."Movie Review: One of Javier Bardem's finest films.
Summary: 4 Stars
If you have never seen any film with Javier Bardem, this is the one to see and many others I could recommend. The story: a young woman gives birth to a baby boy on the bus at night in Madrid, Spain. Twenty years later, Victor, played by Liberto Rabel, is walking the streets being of service to women. He goes to see one woman as he just looked upon her from the window out on the street. Inside the apartment, she points a gun at Victor. A neighbor hears a gunshot. So the police are on their way. Javier Bardem plays "David" and he is one of the cops on the call. The police finally get into the apartment, but a deal has to be made to end this hostage situation. The other cop, Sancho, out of the blue, goes after Victor holding the gun and are wrestling with it. The gun is pointed right at David. The gun goes off, shooting David. It is not clear if Victor or Sancho shot the gun. Now it is 1992. We see that David was paralyzed and wheel-chair bound. I will not say anything else about the plot. This film has many twists and turns. It is called a film noir. Liberto Rabel looks handsome with his hair shaved. I wish this film on DVD where available in Stanard Frame or Full Frame instead of Widescreen.Movie Review: A darker, more serious, more 'grown -up' Almodovar
Summary: 4 Stars
A maturing Almodovar in a less absurd - if still melodramatic - mode than his early films. This time the tone is more film noir/mystery/character study. Unlike most of the early work, this is generally `serious', with just touches of his humor. Visually very striking and dark. Wonderful performances, including an early one by Javier Bardem.
I appreciate how all the characters are grey, no one is `good' or bad'. Basically it's a love triangle with multiple angles, and a cop drama about violence and love. What it's missing (for me at least) , and keeps it a very good film, not a great one, is deeper levels of emotion. It's always interesting, but I didn't ultimately find it affecting. Also a couple of key plot contrivances are clunky - which the anarchic young Almodovar could get away with, since everything was absurd anyway. But when you're being more `real', forced twists feel more... well, forced. Still a highly enjoyable film well worth seeing, and another important step in the growth of a major filmmaker.
Movie Review: another reason i love modern european cinema
Summary: 4 Stars
Besides just simple good film-making, I've figured out WHY European dramatic cinema is better than that found in the U.S.They make more REAL honest movies about human behavior. Whereas in the U.S, a great percentage of films are juvenile comedies, trash pop culture flicks or shallow horror movies. The more you make the more likely you're able to turn out quality- and this film from Spain is no exception.
My Spanish cinema experiences are few, but I've enjoyed what I've seen... one of which being the wonderfully creepy movie: "The Devil's Backbone"
so, go order this or buy it, turn the lights down, pour your drink, and get comfy for a good quality movie...
and hey, it's one of Penelope Cruz's first movies!