Almodóvar

Title: ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto? (What have I done to Deserve This?)
Released: 1984
Director:: Pedro Almodóvar

Plot Summary

This older Almodóvar film is about a struggling dysfunctional family in Madrid. Every character is quirky: the mother Gloria with a slight over-the-counter pill addiction, her terrible husband with a love of fascist Germany, their two troubled kids and a kooky grandma who lives with her family but locks up her food.

Just when you think every character is a complete disaster, there are moments of hope, like the drug dealing son's sweet relationship with his grandma and her plan for a better life moving back to the village where she was born and the kindhearted neighbor prostitute Cristal's dreams of stardom in Las Vegas. Despite some of the darker themes carried in the film, it maintains a lighthearted and almost comedic tone.

Title: La flor de mi secreto (The Flower of My Secret)
Released: 1995
Director:: Pedro Almodóvar

Plot Summary

Leo Macias writes romance novels under pseudonym Amanda Gris and is hired to write a critique of (unknowingly) her own work. Meanwhile, Leo's own marriage is in shambles while her husband is stationed in Brussels despite her knack for writing idealistic love stories.

While not my favorite Almodóvar films (like Volver and Mala educación), La flor de mi secreto is certainly worth watching.

Language Learning Notes

The dialogue is relatively easy to understand and is good exposure to a Spanish accent.

Title: Hable con ella (Talk to her)
Released: 2002

Plot Summary

Another great film by Spanish director Pedro Almoldóvar, Hable con ella is the story of the intersecting lives of two pairs, Alicia & Benigno and Lydia & Marco. Benigno and Marco meet in the hospital, where Benigno is the nurse taking care of Alicia and Marco visits his girlfriend Lydia. Both Alicia and Lydia are in comas from which they may not emerge, but Benigno believes the women are both capable of recovery and encourages Marco to "talk to her".

The film includes some essentially Spanish elements, like bullfighting and the dry olive-tree filled landscape of Andalucia, and also touches on some truly Almoldóvar themes: the mystery of the female heart, loneliness, isolation, and just plain strangeness (the silent film scene is one of the film's more bizarre moments).

Language Learning Notes

Title: Volver (Coming Back)
Released: 2006

Ask any American about Spanish actress Penélope Cruz and they'll say: "she's beautiful". But is she a good actress? Hollywood films like Blow don't do a very good job of showcasing Cruz's talents as an actress; instead, they focus on her beauty and 'exoticness'. Enter Pedro Almodóvar, one of the most well-known Spanish directors, who also happens to know how talented Cruz is. Working together for the first time since Todo sobre mi madre, Volver is a fantastic film and Cruz is a worthy main character.

Title: Mala Educación (Bad Education)
Released: 2004

La Mala Educación (Bad Education) is the latest film from the kooky, transvestite-obsessed Spanish director, Pedro Almodóvar. Perhaps most notable for its hot protagonist, Gabriel García Bernal, who American audiences (mainly the ladies) started to notice in coming-of-age story Y tu máma también and most recently in The Motorcycle Diaries.