PEDRO ALMODOVAR

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBB. 

Spain, 1986.  Compañía Iberoamericana de TV, Televisión Española.  Story by Pedro Almodovar, Screenplay by Jesus Ferrero, Pedro Almodovar.  Cinematography by Angel Luis Fernandez.  Music by Bernardo Bonezzi.  Production Design by Fernando Sanchez.  Costume Design by Jose Maria de Cossio.  Film Editing by José Salcedo.

Upon release, this was Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s most serious and complex film yet, and it still packs a punch. Telling a multi-plotted story, it revolves around an ex-bullfighter who gets turned on by murder, a female lawyer who enjoys killing her lovers, and a student of bullfighting (Antonio Banderas) who is frustrated by the sexual oppression of Catholicism and his own feelings of inadequacy. The investigation of a murder that occurs at the beginning of the film sets off a chain of events that involves all these characters and gets them to reveal their true selves to those around them. Almodovar’s delicious sense of character quirks only makes the mysterious plot more enjoyable.