Post by Vits on Jun 3, 2019 11:05:53 GMT
When the opening credits for DOLOR Y GLORIA (PAIN AND GLORY) rolled, I thought "For a title sequence, this feels rushed. Does it mean that the plot will be rushed too?" It's actually the other way around: A slow movie about a gay director (named SALVADOR MALLO) with "I just woke up" hair, i.e. sort of an autobiography. Pedro Almodóvar didn't decide if he wanted to tell a slice-of-life story with purposefully uneventful moments, a "Looking back at how my life became this way" story with eventful moments only shown in the past, or a story with a traditional structure and eventful moments shown at different points in time. He tries and fails to combine all of them. There are several subplots and 3 timelines. They don't feel like they belong in the same movie, something that's highlighted by Teresa Font's weak editing. Situations end and begin with no rhyme or reason, even if it's within the same scene. After the end, I started to think how the movie would be if some of those subplots had been cut. I think the outcome have been the same. I mean... For crying out loud! There's a scene where SALVADOR chatting with someone and reminiscing about a time where he was chatting with someone and reminiscing! Why wasn't there more focus on his childhood, which was the most interesting part? There were a lot of conversations about him becoming a singer yet he becomes a filmmaker. Sure, he said that he liked watching movies and he collected cards with celebrity photos, but that made him come off as a regular moviegoer. The last part of the movie introduces something that's kind of a mystery and SALVADOR almost breaks the 4th wall by saying "I might write a script about it, but I won't try to solve it myself." Then why introduce this in the 1st place? There's a difference between metafiction and trolling the audience. One of the first scenes involves SALVADOR running into an old acquaintance. 3 different shots are used throughout the scene, and the levels of color and lighting are different in each one. I don't know if this mistake originated during filming or during post-production, but it's unforgivable for a director with a long career (especially if the movie is about a director with a long career). Despite all its flaws, it still manages to be a passable experience. The plot is never predictable nor flat out boring, Alberto Iglesias' music score is good, Antonio Banderas' performance is very good and some of the ideas are quite original.
6/10
-------------------------------------
You can read comments of other movies in my blog.
6/10
-------------------------------------
You can read comments of other movies in my blog.