Re: Pain and Glory reviews
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2022 12:16 pm
Pain and Glory keeps showing new layers as it goes along, ultimately revealing itself to be a structured series of vignettes, each of which inform the other. I was moved by what it said about the relationship between art and memory. We think that we’re settling into a journey of hazy heroin-fueled remembrances by Salvador that presumably he’ll come to peace with and then move on. And that’s… not entirely what happens. It’s a nifty trick. The whole film is very deeply felt. My biggest reservation is that it just felt so conflict-averse. There's loads of conflicts that just sort of mellow out: Salvador and his old collaborator, Salvador and an old lover, Salvador and his mother, Salvador and a first attachment, Salvador and heroin… This is one of the least self-critical portraits of an artist I’ve seen in a long time. There’s no acknowledgment that he was ever a shit, and I don’t buy that Pedro Almodovar wasn’t a shit in his day. Where I differ from the film is that closure breeds rebirth. Sometimes a lack of closure breeds it as well.
I guess what I’m trying to get around saying was it felt a bit too old to me but there's still more than enough to heartily recommend. I enjoyed it more than Parallel Mothers. Antonio Banderas is very good, but his scenes with his old lover are standout. And as always, it's just such a feast for the eyes, but his attention to detail is wonderful as well, such as a moment where Salvador drops a pill on the floor and has to drop a pillow down to assist his knees when he crouches down. Gorgeous filmmaking.
Quick aside: at one or two points, somebody describes something in the film as happening “by coincidence” as an explanation. The only other time I’ve heard someone call something like that out is in a Woody Allen movie. I’ve never encountered anyone in real life say that something happened by coincidence. I hereby propose that whenever someone discusses something that happens by coincidence in real life or film, they just shrug and say “Fate?” Or, y’know, write a better reason.
I guess what I’m trying to get around saying was it felt a bit too old to me but there's still more than enough to heartily recommend. I enjoyed it more than Parallel Mothers. Antonio Banderas is very good, but his scenes with his old lover are standout. And as always, it's just such a feast for the eyes, but his attention to detail is wonderful as well, such as a moment where Salvador drops a pill on the floor and has to drop a pillow down to assist his knees when he crouches down. Gorgeous filmmaking.
Quick aside: at one or two points, somebody describes something in the film as happening “by coincidence” as an explanation. The only other time I’ve heard someone call something like that out is in a Woody Allen movie. I’ve never encountered anyone in real life say that something happened by coincidence. I hereby propose that whenever someone discusses something that happens by coincidence in real life or film, they just shrug and say “Fate?” Or, y’know, write a better reason.