Hooptober 7.0

Film 10/31 - Spain

Despite being very aware of Pedro Almodovar, I’ve never watched one of his films.  The Skin I Live In has nonetheless been in my watchlist for a while now as I’d heard it was more of a genre exercise.

Wow.  This was thoroughly depraved, twisted and dark despite being suffused with color and routine splashes of red (not blood).  An exploration of passion, identity, revenge and justice through a thoroughly modern lens that isn’t afraid to show us just how dark a man’s soul can be.

Giving away any of the plot would be a shame an I encourage anyone to go in as blind as possible and let the film work its insidious magic trick naturally.  

Almodovar is a technical genius as well.  The film looks absolutely stunning and is framed and shot perfectly.  The narrative structure is also set up to best tell the story even if it isn’t chronological.  Special kudos to Banderas.  He is perfect in this kind of role as opposed to the straight up hero.  Finally, this film doesn’t work without the astoundingly brave performance of Elena Anaya.  I don’t remember seeing her in Wonder Woman, but I’ll never forget her now.  In a truly difficult role she shines and triumphs.  At a certain point, she pulled of such a shift in the way I saw her (or maybe that was Almodovar) and there was no going back.

Of course, the movie sticks the landing like everything else.   I might not watch many more of Almodovar’s films, but I can’t praise this one enough.