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Pedro Almodóvar |
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Director / Screenwriter /
Producer |
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1951 - |
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Born September 24,
Calzada de Calatrava, Ciudad Real, Spain |
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Key
Production Countries: Spain, France |
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Key Genres:
Drama, Melodrama, Comedy Drama, Black Comedy, Psychological Drama,
Thriller, Comedy,
Sex Comedy |
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Key
Collaborators: Jose
Salcedo (Editor), Agustin Almodovar (Producer), Alberto Iglesias
(Composer), Chus Lampreave (Character Player), Carmen Maura (Leading Player), Rossy De Palma (Character Player),
Antxon Gomez (Production Designer), Antonio Banderas (Leading Player),
Marisa Paredes (Leading Character Player), Jose Luis Alcaine (Cinematographer) |
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Highly Recommended: All
About My Mother (1999)* |
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Recommended: Live
Flesh (1997), The Flower of My Secret (1995), Talk to Her (2002)*^, Volver
(2006)^, Broken Embraces (2009), The Skin I Live In
(2011) |
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Worth
a Look: What
Have I Done to Deserve This? (1985), Matador (1986), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), Bad Education (2004)^ |
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Approach with Caution:
Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980), Law of Desire (1987)*, Women on the Verge of a
Nervous Breakdown (1988), High Heels (1991) |
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Duds: Kika (1993) |
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* Listed in TSPDT's
1,000 Greatest Films
section; ^
Listed in TSPDT's
21st Century's Most Acclaimed Films
section. |
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Links: [
Amazon
] [
IMDB ] [
TCMDB ] [
All-Movie
Guide ] [
Senses of Cinema: Great Directors ] [
Film Reference ] [
Wikipedia ] [
Official
Spanish Page ] [
NPR
Interview (Audio) ] [
Sony
Classics Profile ] [
New York Sun Article (2006) ] [
Close-Up Film
Interview (2006) ] [
Guardian Article (2008)
] [
Almodóvarlandia ] |
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Books: [
Almodóvar on Almodóvar ] [
Pedro Almodóvar (BFI World Directors) ] [
All About Almodóvar: A Passion for Cinema ] [
IMDB ] [
IMDB ] [
A
Spanish Labyrinth: The Films of Pedro Almodóvar ] [
Desire
Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar ] [
Pedro Almodóvar (Contemporary Film Directors)
] |
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"A
maverick talent, he worked in the theatre before beginning to
make short films on Super 8, and graduated to features in 1978.
He took full advantage of the post-Franco cultural freedom to
develop a distinctive directorial style, and has matured from
the 'bad boy' of Spanish cinema into a sophisticated European
auteur. He is noted for creating sublime melodramas and writing
superb roles for women." -
(Chambers Film Factfinder, 2006) |
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"Luridly
improbable plotting may evoke
Buñuel's
surrealist legacy, but Almodóvar's vision of Spain is
determinedly post-Franco: more concerned with the heady pursuit
of pleasure than politics, and gleefully amoral - rather than
genuinely shocking - in its celebration of all forms of sexual
preference (his early films were mostly bawdy sex comedies)." -
Geoff
Andrew (The Director's Vision, 1999) |
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"Pedro Almodóvar's
outrageous and provocative films have made him the most
internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker since the death of
Franco in 1975...Almodóvar's forté is in incorporating elements
of underground and gay culture into mainstream forms with wide
crossover appeal, thus redefining perceptions of Spanish cinema
and Spain." -
Ronald Bergan (Film - Eyewitness Companions, 2006)
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"Yes,
women are stronger than us. They face more directly the problems
that confront them, and for that reason they are much more
spectacular to talk about. I don't know why I am more interested
in women, because I don't go to any psychiatrists, and I don't
want to know why." - Pedro
Almodóvar |
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"I
also wanted to express the strength of cinema to hide reality,
while being entertaining. Cinema can fill in the empty spaces of
your life and your loneliness." -
Pedro
Almodóvar |
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Please
note that the rating given for this director (see top-right) is based
only on the films we have seen (listed above). Films by this director that we
haven't seen include Labyrinth of Passion (1982) and Dark Habits
(1983). |
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7+ |
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"Exploring
his gay sensibility, Almodóvar appeals to straight
audiences, who share his appetite for the resurrection and
re-invigoration of old movie clichés. In overlooked works
like Kika, characters literally die for love, and
this slick director understands that classic escapism has
undying appeal for a reason. The genius of Almodóvar lies in
succumbing to the absurdity of Hollywood romanticism, while
recognizing it as an impossible ideal. After enduring
bloodless Oscar winners and critically correct masterpieces,
the audience rushes to Almodóvar’s movies because they act
like a tonic."
-
José Arroyo (updated by Robert J.
Pardi), International Dictionary of Film and Filmmakers
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●
Top 250 Directors |
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21st Century Top
50 |
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100 Essential Directors (Pop
Matters) |
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Ranked 15th on
The Guardian's 2004 List of the World's 40 Best Directors |
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Ranked 11th on Film Comment's list of the 25 Best
Directors of the Decade (2000-2009) |
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501 Movie Directors: A
Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers |
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See Also |
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Jean-Jacques Beineix |
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Luis Buñuel |
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Rainer Werner Fassbinder |
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Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
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Julio Medem |
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François Ozon |
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Carlos Saura |
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Douglas Sirk |
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John Waters |
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Billy Wilder |
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Pedro Almodóvar's Favourites |
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About Eve (1950)
Joseph L.
Mankiewicz,
Leave Her to Heaven (1945
John M.
Stahl, Midnight
(1939)
Mitchell Leisen,
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Charles Laughton, North by
Northwest (1959)
Alfred Hitchcock,
Out of the Past (1947)
Jacques Tourneur,
The Rules of the Game(1939)
Jean Renoir,
Senso (1954)
Luchino Visconti,
Some Like it Hot (1959)
Billy Wilder,
Touch of Evil (1958)
Orson Welles.
Source:
Time Out (1995) |
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