(Image credit: Manolo Pavón/Sony Pictures Classics)
"Great artists talk as much to themselves as they do to the world — Pedro Almodóvar perhaps more than most. The director’s 21st feature, 'Pain and Glory,' was released Oct. 4 and, like all his best work, is infused with images and ideas from his previous films.
"'Pain and Glory' completes a loose trilogy about gay film directors, after 'Law of Desire' (1987) and 'Bad Education' (2004), and is the most obviously autobiographical of the three. And not just because Antonio Banderas, named best actor at the Cannes Film Festival for the role, plays ailing director Salvador Mallo in what looks like Almodóvar’s clothes, his hair blown out in a distinctive Almodóvarean mane; Mallo’s apartment is also modeled on his creator’s real-life home. Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, Almodóvar has said, 'I’m trying to convince myself I’m talking about a character. . . . But deep down I know I’m talking about myself.'
For the feature in full, visit The Washington Post.