PAIN AND GLORY - MIFF 2019

Salvador Mallo is one of Spain's greatest living directors. Well known around the world, he is thought of as a national treasure. However, behind closed doors Salvador is a main struggling with many physical ailments, particularly back related, that find it hard for him to shoot films. It has been awhile since he last made a film, and since cinema is his life blood, this inability to do what he is most passionate about, has sent Salvador into a deep depression. Constantly medicated for the pain he suffers, Salvador sleepwalks through life, failing to find inspiration to write again. However, when he finds out that one of his old movies has been restored and is about to be presented by a local film festival, it causes him to search out the star of that film, Alberto Crispo. Mallo and Crispo have not seen each other for thirty two years due to a falling out that occurred during the very film that has been restored. However, with time, both men see differently to how they once did and the two reconnect quickly. Crispo introduces the famous director to the benefits of heroin, and whilst getting high, Mallo starts to remember key moments of his life and the people that meant so much to him and helped shape him into the man he became. Whilst his dabbles with heroin predictably send him further towards rock bottom, a chance encounter with an ex-lover may be just the thing to send Salvador Mallo onto the path of proper healing.

Pedro Almodovar's latest film, the perfectly titled “Pain and Glory”, is a thing of absolute beauty and one of his very best films. It is a much smaller film and less melodramatic than the films he is famous for, but it is filled to the brim with emotion. It is a film about coming to terms with the past, and reconnecting with it, so moving ahead into the future becomes easier. It looks at what it is like for someone used to the spotlight, or the “glory” if you will, and the pain they feel when that light is taken away from them and they are unable to do what they love to do most. Most of all though, “Pain and Glory” is about ageing and coming to terms with it. It is unlike anything previous that Almodovar has done, but everything about it is pure Almodovar; there is no doubt who made this film right from the opening frame.

What is interesting about this film is the fact that it is about a director, so immediately you have to wonder just how autobiographical this film actually is. There is no doubt that Almodovar has taken from his own life and experiences, but to what extent I am unsure. The whole thing feels very honest and personal though and if this is what Almodovar goes through between films, it certainly is an eye-opener and if I am being honest, quite unexpected. His deep love for his own mother is well known, and this is reflected in the film with Salvador's mother, Jacinta, being lovingly played by both Penelope Cruz (in the younger flashback scenes) and Julieta Serrano. You can feel the love for this character just from the way Almodovar shoots the scenes that she is in. The sadness in regards to the story if it is autobiographic is just what Almodovar seems to go through to get himself to make the next film. It certainly seems like this is someone aware of the fact that he has a limited number of films left in him, but at the same time, he appears to have come to terms with it.

Almodovar chose Antonio Banderas to play Salvador Mallo, and he has rarely been better. He is so good in this role that it is easy to see why he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival this year. He is very understated in the role and he says so much just through his age weary eyes. It is such a mature performance that had me mesmerised from go to woe. This is the eighth time Banderas and Almodovar have worked together and I always have said that they each bring the very best out of one another. You forget just how great an actor Banderas is until you see him in an Almodovar picture. There are tiny little moments that I loved in this film by him that just felt so honest and real, like when his ex-lover leaves and Mallo thanks him for coming, but then follows it up with the word “seriously”, and it is just such a genuine moment and the most perfect line reading. Another moment is when he laughs while his mother is telling him a story that borders on the ridiculous while she is in hospital. Again, it is not a big bellowing gut laugh, it is a simple chuckle that felt so real, that it made me smile. Banderas's performance is filled with moments like these.

Besides Banderas's performance, “Pain and Glory” contains a number of scenes that are just gems, including one that arguably is the best scene I have seen in a film all year. The scene in question is when Mallo's ex-lover (and who appears to be the love of his life) Federico comes to visit him out of the blue. Oh my god! What a phenomenal scene, that is filled with so much emotion and love. You can see just how much these two men love each other, even though both have moved on and have new lives. What is also apparent is the enjoyment they both feel catching up again. Throughout the scene, Federico (wonderfully played by Leonardo Sbaraglia) is constantly beaming; you cannot wipe the smile off of his face, but it is not just because he and Salvador are together again. You can tell this is a man who is genuinely happy with his life and family and loves talking about both to a person he cares about. There is also a moment where Federico confronts the past and explains that he had no idea how hard he made it for Salvador (Federico was a heroin addict in the past), but again, it is not a confrontational scene in that there is no anger or anything like that. The two of them reflect on the past fondly. I cannot stress just how fantastic this scene is and it is also the catalyst for Salvador to attempt to improve his quality of life once more. Another great scene that I want to mention is a brief one at the beginning which really serves no narrative function other than to highlight Salvador's upbringing surrounded by women (like Almodovar's himself), but it is a lovely scene of the women, including Salvador's mother, washing the bed sheets in the river whilst singing a tune together. The way Penelope Cruz is shot in these scenes is proof just how much love there is for the mother character in this film.

As always, the filmmaking craft is second to none in “Pain and Glory” with Pedro Almodovar at the very top of his game. I cannot think of another director who uses colour so aggressively and boldly and yet it always feels perfect. This film explodes with colour and I loved Salvador's kitchen with its bright red cupboards and light blue splash back. Its just stunning, and then characters walk through the kitchen dressed in orange or green, and it just works. It is pure Almodovar. Jose Luis Alcaine, once again, returns as the director of photographer and gives the film a more intimate feel than is usual for his collaborations with Almodovar. “Pain and Glory” is a beautiful looking film, but is never flashy which is perfect for this quiet human drama. Almodovar's other greatest living collaborator, Alberto Iglesias, delivers yet another fantastic score, this time in quite a playful fashion.

One of the key themes of “Pain and Glory” is reconnecting with the past, and like a lot of Almodovar's recent films, he has once again cast an actor who used to be a regular in his films from the 80's. For the first time in thirty years, since 1989's “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!”, Pedro Almodovar and Julieta Serrano have worked together, with Serrano portraying the elderly version of Jacinta, Salvador's mother, and she is perfect in the role. At times goofy and aloof, while other times hurting her son with just a simple powerful sentence. It is good to have her back, and it is actually the third time Serrano and Banderas have played mother and son together, after Almodovar's “Matador” and “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”.

Overall, I have barely scratched the surface of how great Pedro Almodovar's latest film is. Smaller in scope and scale than usual, “Pain and Glory” is an honest look at ageing and the feelings an artist goes through when, because of age and health, they are no longer able to do what they love to do. It is anchored by a brilliant, yet understated performance from Antonio Banderas, who has rarely been better, but he is just one of many who give outstanding performances in this film. The film looks great; bright and bursting with colour, and it is packed full of emotion. I also have to say that the ending of “Pain and Glory” is pure perfection, and I welled up with emotion when the credits began. This is Almodovar at the top of his game, and he once again proves why his is one of the greatest living directors working in cinema today. Do not miss this film.

4.5 Stars.