Saturday, November 20, 2004
Almond Dove Bar
That's what a certain ex-boyfriend's boyfriend calls the greatest filmmaker in Europe, perhaps the world, Pedro Almodóvar. Last night the maestro's latest, "Bad Education," opened commercially in New York, after a much-celebrated NY Film Festival appearance in September. This gem of a movie is a multi-layered story of frustrated love, child-abusing priests, avenging drag queens, and the vagaries of madrileño film-making. Mexican heartthrob Gael García Bernal (pictured left) is a revelation, if you will excuse that cliché, as both the aspiring actor who surfaces with an explosive script, and as that script's avenging heroine. I won't tell you more - just see it, ferchrissake.
Andres saw this two weeks ago in Argentina and, oddly, didn't like it as much, missing Almodóvar's stable of fiery actresses, though, for me, Bernal provides the feminine fire, and then some.
Before and after my South American trip, I watched the DVD of Bernal's earlier triumph in "Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too)," as the poorer of the two horny teen protagonists (pictured left). This movie is also essential viewing, for its incisive take on male teen sexuality, capturing the insecurity, jealousy, and even sexual ambigiuity underneath the bravado and banter. All this is framed by a grainy, realist travelogue through the racial and cultural contrasts of Mexico's landscape, and punctuated by forward- and backward-looking narrative breaks reminiscent of the French film "Amelie."
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