Towards “Broken Embraces”

You might recall that about three weeks ago I wholeheartedly sang the praises of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Broken Embraces,” so it almost  goes without saying that I was very pleased to see that the film will begin a run at Sundance Cinemas this Friday (1/22). Even if you don’t care much for Almodóvar’s recent output (or, if you’re like my esteemed colleague Todd Stevens, you adore films such as “Talk to Her”), “Broken Embraces” is really a wonderful flick—as humble an $18 million love letter to cinema as you’ll ever see. If you’re looking to treat yourself to an excellent double feature, I recommend following “Broken Embraces” up with a viewing of Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt” (1963), a film to which “Broken Embraces” seems to be a partial tribute.

Favorites from the decade that was

Fifty fillets of film, alphabetically ordered. Now I can finally get on with my life.

Dos for the price of uno

If you’re not too busy doing nothing today, might I suggest reading my reviews of “Up in the Air” and “Broken Embraces”, both of which are now accessible over at the Daily Cardinal’s website? What’s up with the larger font? I couldn’t tell ya. Anyway, I’m not BSing when I say that “Broken Embraces” was really an unexpected pleasure; if it’s playing in your area, wherever “your area” may be, jump on it.

It’s gotten to the point where it’s rather easy to hate on Almodóvar—like I said in the review, he’s responsible for some real trash, and I don’t mean that in the endearing, Warholian sense of “trash”—but “Broken Embraces” is quite an achievement. May 2010 be as strong as the end of 2009 was (with “The White Ribbon” opening  at NY’s Film Forum on Wednesday, I’d say that things are looking pretty good so far).

Tonight at the Cinematheque: Buñuel and Almodóvar

The Cinematheque is rolling out an intriguing double feature tonight, especially if you happen to speak Spanish: Luis Buñuel’s The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955) at 7:30PM and Pedro Almodóvar’s Live Flesh (1997) at 9:10PM; the former sounds as though it’s exactly what you’d expect of a Buñuel film from the 1950s (meaning that it’s unsettling, perverse, ultra-black, discreetly freaky and a lot of fun), while the latter is described on the Cinematheque’s website as “a complex tapestry of destiny and guilt” and “[a] stylish, sexy film noir.” I’ve yet to see anything by Almodóvar, though occasional CineMadison contributor Nick Nugent tells me that Live Flesh is definitely worth seeing.

If you show up at 6:00PM there’s going to be a lecture given by visiting University of Colorado-Boulder film professor Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz, presumably on the stylistic parallels between Buñuel and Almodóvar.

It’s because of events such as these that I argue, with no irony whatsoever, that Madison has an amazing cinema scene during the school year.