Pain And Glory Movie Review

8/10

When a famous director writes and directs a movie about another movie director it is immediately perceived as autobiographical. This maybe partially correct. The real question is - which movie written by its creator isn’t? All characters tend to inhabit the certain feature of its creator. And this is the common theme of PAIN AND GLORY the latest movie from Pedro Almadovar.

At its centre is the character of Antonio Banderas - a middle aged director who achieved certain fame, but is suffering from several painful conditions that stop him from making more movies. When the screening of his most famous film is announced he has to reconcile with some people from his past and find a way to get his creativity back on track. We get flashbacks to his childhood where his wilfull mother (Penelope Cruz) is trying to carve a future for him, and when, for the first time, he experiences sexual desire. 
A Theatre piece rather than a movie (most Almadovar films are), decorated with bright colours, red in particular, but again that’s what you would expect, we are being plunged into the world where small things have huge significance and coincidences rule.

Static camera shots, deliberate slowness of the story and a seemingly missing focus of the plot is designed to build a world where one cannot tell the made up story from real life, and this idea comes full circle with the film's final shot. Antonio Banderas is fantastic as usual, perfectly mimicking the movement of a man suffering from chronic pain, and Penelope Cruz brings the mixture of vulnerability and strength that define the main character and his future.

The film would have benefited from a shorter running time, lacks the crazy and flamboyant we are used to, and it definitely won’t please everyone.

Impressive? Maybe. Instant classic? Maybe not. But this is Almadovar that always makes us come back for more. And this is just good enough.