Pain and Glory, written and directed by Pedro Almodovar - 8.5 out of 10

Pain and Glory, written and directed by Pedro Almodovar

8.5 out of 10

For some strange reason, this cinephile is not overwhelmed by the selection for the 2020 Golden Globes, with the notable exception of Parasite – which is indeed surely the main reason why the other nominees are so unrewarding, because when compared with this magnum opus, they pale and seem to lack the power, originality, complexity, challenge of the South Korean masterpiece – from The joker, through Dolemite is My Name to Knives Out and finishing with Dolor y Gloria, the acclaimed Spanish production.

Pain and glory has been nominated not only for two Golden Globes, for Best Motion Picture – foreign Language and Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama – but more importantly, apart from nominations and prizes won among other places at the European Film Awards, this movie has been short listed for the most important cinematic award in the world, the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won for Best Actor.

Furthermore, the Metascore for this film is a wondrous 88 out of 100, with Variety stating that this is “A mature work of meticulously tuned meta-fiction…” and other critics writing admiring reviews of the motion picture…

However, this viewer has if not the opposite view, wrong as it evidently is, when placed against so much appreciation and “Glory”, at least a take in which this is not so exhilarating, it maybe borders self-indulgence and that could be sustained by the signature of the filmmaker, who writes at the end that this is a film by “Almodovar”, without Pedro, which could be a sign of modesty and self-effacement, but for the undersigned it signals the fact that the writer-director has entered the gallery of those who would be known by one single name, like Madonna, Sting and a few others.

The story of the main character, Salvador Mallo aka highly acclaimed Antonio Banderas, winner at Cannes and maybe at the Golden Globes, is emotionally compelling, if your heart is in the right place, which in case of this cinephile it surely is not, for he has found so much to disengage with in this otherwise universally honored work.

It could be – perhaps it is – inspired by elements from the life of the real life creator, Almodovar as we may have to use it from now on, for the protagonist used to be a writer who had enjoyed success, before retiring, suffering from various ailments – by the way, this seemed exaggerated, in the sense that yes, very often we have the disease of the hero mentioned – Walter White of Breaking Bad fame comes to mind – but to give so many details of muscles, tendonitis – if it was mentioned – headaches, the spine, the blockage within the neck, the many pills, the various conditions seem to transfer the feature into a documentary on the diseases of the human body, for sizeable segments …

The relationships that are revisited, if not restored, between the hero and two men that have been a crucial part of his past, after so many decades can be seen from two points of view- evidently, most critics and judges at festivals and the Golden Globes have been enthused, but others may find this rather artificial and or bizarre, given that the conditions seem to be improper.

For this viewer, Pain and Glory has recalled the recent creations of another master, Woody Allen, who, just like Almodovar (without Pedro from now on it seems), has had glorious divine masterpieces…Manhattan, Annie Hall and so many others, but in his late years, although he has had recognition for the likes of Blue Jasmine, most of the work has not been at the level – granted, it is stratospheric – of the early, Olympic years…