Matador (1986 film)

Directed by Pedro Almodovar and written by Almodovar and Jesus Ferrero, Matador is the story of a matador student who confesses to a murder that he didn’t commit as forces beyond his control involving other people start to unfold about the real mysteries of the murder. The film is a dark exploration into the world of faith, sex, and death as it plays into the complicated world of a retired matador, his student, his young lover, and the student’s defense attorney in this strange yet complex story. Starring Antonio Banderas, Assumpta Serna, Carmen Maura, Eva Cobo, Eusebio Poncela, Julieta Serrano, Chus Lampreave, Veronica Forque, and Nacho Martinez. Matador is a mesmerizing and offbeat film from Pedro Almodovar.

The film is this very unconventional mystery that is driven by a young yet repressed matador student whose attempt to rape a model has him confessing to a series of mysterious murders. Yet, it’s a film that plays into a world of sexuality and death as the film opens with these very chilling scenes of death where a man is masturbating to images of murders while a woman would kill her lover with a hairpin. It sets the tone for what is coming as Angel (Antonio Banderas) desires to be a matador but he is repressed sexually as well as in other things due to his more traditional upbringing by his mother (Julietta Serrano). That repression and his attempted rape on Eva (Eva Cobo) would send Angel into an uncertainty while his confession gets the attention of his matador teacher/Eva’s boyfriend Diego Montez (Nacho Martinez) and a defense attorney in Maria Cardenal (Assumpta Serna) who would take Angel’s case to see if she can help him.

The film’s screenplay has a very odd structure where the first act is about Angel trying to prove his manhood to Diego who questioned him if he was gay. In his attempt to prove his manhood by raping Eva, it would only show how repressed and lost he is through his own upbringing as his mother’s prompting to confess to his priest would only cause Angel to become lost in his guilt. The second act involves not just Diego and Maria as they try to figure out the case but also their own encounter with each other as there is this very unlikely attraction. Maria is a fan of Diego’s time as a bullfighter while it is clear that there is something about them that is off causing the detective (Eusebio Poncela) to wonder if Angel knows something as he asks the criminal psychologist Julia (Carmen Maura) to help. The film’s third act would involve Eva, who is deeply in love with Angel, where she not only learns about the true nature of the murder as Angel in his own troubled state would also make some revelations into the truth.

Pedro Almodovar’s direction definitely has a degree of style in not just his approach to framing but also in the mood he conveys as he definitely brings in elements of surrealism and melodrama into the film. Especially in the latter as there’s a scene where Diego and Maria find themselves in a movie theater watching the ending of King Vidor’s Duel in the Sun as it showcased the desire they would have for each other later on. Much of the direction has Almodovar use a lot of smooth dolly pans to create a mood with its wide and medium shots to play into the worlds that Diego and Maria live in as well as the more oppressed environment of Angel. The themes of faith are quite evident in the film as it relates to Angel and his mother as she is this old-school traditionalist who would pressure Angel to always answer to God as he starts to lose himself mentally. Angel’s mother is a very sharp contrast to Eva’s more liberal mother (Chus Lampreave) who is an artist as she is more in tune with is happening while Angel’s mother convinced that her son has sinned.

There is also a dangerous approach to sexuality in the way the film begins where a man masturbates to images of murder as well as a woman killing a man while having sex. It’s among the aspects in Almodovar’s direction that plays to elements of extreme where its climax takes that sexual extreme to another level. Once the sex is mixed in with this gruesome idea of violence as it relates to the art of bullfighting, it plays into not just the unraveling of the mystery but also into a world that doesn’t really make much sense as far as what Eva and Angel are concerned since they come from two very disparate backgrounds. Overall, Almodovar creates a very dark yet evocative film about people’s desires and their own sense of emotional and sexual repression.

Cinematographer Angel Luis Fernandez does brilliant work with the film‘s very vibrant and stylish cinematography to capture the lush look of red as well as some of the colorful exteriors in some of the film‘s locations in Madrid along with some of its lighting in its interior scenes. Editor Jose Salcedo does amazing work in creating some stylish cuts from the use of dissolves for a surreal sequence involving Angel as well as jump-cuts to play into its suspense and drama. Production designer Fernando Sanchez, with set decorators Roman Arango, Pin Morales, and Josep Rosell, does fantastic work with the look of the home that Diego lives and teaches as well as the more stylish world that Eva and her mother lives in.

Costume designer Jose Maria de Cossio does incredible work with the costumes where he uses red to help with the look of the film a dress that Eva wears as well as the clothes that Maria wears in the film. The sound work of Bernard Ortion is superb for some of the sound effects that is created as well as the sparseness in some of the moments such as Diego displaying his moves despite his career-ending injury. The film’s music by Bernardo Bonezzi is phenomenal for its chilling score that mixes orchestral music with some flamenco as well as some eerie electronic pieces to play into its suspense and drama.

The film’s great cast includes some cameo appearances from Pedro Almodovar as a fashion designer, his brother Agustin as a cop, Bibiana Fernandez as a flower vendor, Veronica Forque as a fashion reporter, Carmen Maura as a police psychologist who falls for Angel, and Eusebio Poncela in a terrific performance as the detective who leads the investigation as he often is baffled by the behavior of women. Julietta Serrano and Chus Lampreave are wonderful in their respective roles as the mothers of Angel and Eva as they bring in polarizing ideas about motherhood and morals where the former is very strict while the latter is more outgoing. Eva Cobo is excellent as the model Eva who has a very lovesick obsession towards Diego despite their age difference as she also endures being raped by Angel despite his naivete.

Antonio Banderas is fantastic as Angel as this young matador student who starts to unravel mentally due to his oppressive upbringing and desire to prove that he’s a man as it’s a performance told with such restraint and sensitivity. Nacho Martinez is superb as the very masculine yet repressed Diego as this once-great matador who teaches his students the art of killing a bull as it plays to a sense of melancholia that would later be shadowed by something much darker. Finally, there’s Assumpta Serna in an exhilarating performance as Angel’s lawyer Maria Cardenal as this woman who is quite offbeat as she wants to prove that Angel is innocent as she also has this obsession about Diego that showcases a darker side of her that would attract Diego.

Matador is a ravishing yet visceral film from Pedro Almodovar. Armed with a great cast led by Assumpta Serna, Nacho Martinez, and Antonio Banderas as well as a fantastic score. The film is definitely one of Almodovar’s early triumphs as well as one of his most dangerous and provocative films that explores the world of oppression and extreme sexuality. In the end, Matador is a remarkable film from Pedro Almodovar.

Pedro Almodovar Films: Pepi, Luci, Bom - Labyrinth of Passion - Dark Habits - What Have I Done to Deserve This? - Law of Desire - Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! - High Heels - Kika - The Flower of My Secret - Live Flesh - All About My Mother - Talk to Her - Bad Education - Volver - Broken Embraces - The Skin I Live In - I'm So Excited - Julieta - Pain & Glory - (The Human Voice (2020 short film)) - (Parallel Mothers)

The Auteurs #37: Pedro Almodovar Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

© thevoid99 2014

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar, Que he hacho yo para merecer esto? (What Have I Done to Deserve This?) is the story of a middle-class housewife who has a family filled with eccentric people as she tries to maintain a sense of normalcy in her life. The film is a mixture of melodrama and humor as it plays into a woman trying to make sense of the world that she lives in. Starring Carmen Maura, Angel de Andres Lopez, Veronica Forque, and Gonzalo Suarez. Que he hacho you para merecer esto? is an engrossing yet sensational film from Pedro Almodovar.

The film explores the life of a housewife who lives in a cramped apartment with her husband, her mother-in-law, and two teenage sons as she works cleaning houses for a living as money is tight and things are becoming chaotic. While it’s a film that has some humor, it’s mostly a melodrama in the vein of a lot of different styles as Pedro Almodovar creates a story that has a woman dealing with the world that she’s in. For the character of Gloria (Carmen Maura), she fantasizes about having a life outside of her eccentric family that consists of her unhappy mother-in-law (Chus Lampreave), a homosexual son in Miguel (Miguel Angel Herraz), her older son in drug dealer Toni (Juan Martinez), and her husband Antonio (Angel de Andres Lopez) who used to work as a chauffer for a revered German singer as he’s also a talented forger. The activities of Antonio, her sons, and her mother-in-law have Gloria feel unappreciated and overworked as the only friend she has is her neighbor in the prostitute Cristal (Veronica Forque).

The film’s screenplay features a lot of subplots involving Toni’s deals and his relationship with his grandmother as he helps her wanting to go back to her home village as he will join her. Other subplots involve Miguel’s sexual exploits as he often gets the attraction of older men, Antonio’s schemes with a writer in Lucas Villalba (Gonzalo Suarez) involving the memoirs of Adolf Hitler as he’s also a client of Cristal, and a neighbor (Kiti Manver) who abuses her telekinetic daughter Vanessa (Sonia Hohmann). All of which plays into Gloria’s desire for something better as well as questioning herself into why is she living this very chaotic life where her husband always spend their money on bullshit. Though the script doesn’t have much of a plot, it is more of a character study into Gloria’s life as she is eager for something normal as it would take some drastic steps for her to find that normalcy.

Almodovar’s direction is pretty simple in terms of the compositions he creates as it mostly focuses on medium shots and close-ups with a few wide shots of the city of Madrid and its locations. Much of it is set in this apartment complex where Gloria, her family, and her neighbors live in as it’s quite cramped in some parts as it would represent the sense of repression in Gloria’s life. Some of it would be humorous as well as filled with some eccentricities where Gloria would watch Cristal having sex with a client while they’re having a conversation. Some of the compositions that Almodovar creates does play into melodrama in the way he places Gloria into a frame as it plays to not just her growing frustrations with the world but with herself. Much of it has Almodovar paying homage to American melodramas while infusing it with some visual motifs inspired by the French New Wave and the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Particularly as its climax would involve Gloria not only getting some resolution about her life but also the sense of hope that her family will be able to appreciate her and help her. Overall, Almodovar crafts a very intelligent and compelling film about the chaotic life of a housewife in Madrid.

Cinematographer Angel L. Fernandez does excellent work with the film‘s colorful cinematography from the lighting schemes in Cristal‘s apartment as well as the more low-key look for the interiors in Gloria‘s apartment. Editor Jose Salcedo does nice work with the editing as it‘s mostly straightforward while it has some flairs of style with its jump-cuts for some of its melodramatic scenes. Set decorators Roman Arango and Pin Morales do amazing work with the look of Gloria‘s apartment as it features posters of the band Kiss in her son‘s room as well as the more lavish look in Cristal‘s apartment.

Costume designer Cecilia Roth does terrific work with the costumes from the wild clothes of Cristal to the more plain clothes that Gloria wears. Sound recording engineer Enrique Molinero does superb work with the sound to create some effects and such to play into some of the drama. The film’s music by Bernardo Bonezzi is fantastic for its mixture of orchestral themes to play into the melodrama with some electronic-based music for its humor and suspense.

The film’s cast includes some cameo appearances from Pedro Almodovar as an actor singing on a film set and Cecilia Roth as a woman in a coffee commercial. Other notable small roles include Kiti Manver as Gloria and Cristal’s cruel neighbor Juani, Sonia Hohmann as Juani’s telekinetic daughter Vanessa, Amparo Soler Leal as Lucas’ wife Patricia, and Katia Lortiz as a once-famous German singer whom Antonio used to be a chauffer for. Miguel Angel Herraz and Juan Martinez are terrific in their respective roles as Gloria’s teenage sons in the openly-gay Miguel and the more adventurous drug dealer Toni. Gonzalo Suarez is excellent as the writer Lucas Villalba who conspires with Antonio to forge some handwritten pieces from Adolf Hitler for a memoir while Chus Lampreave is hilarious as Gloria’s mother-in-law who always talks about her village and hiding things like her mineral water and Magdalena cakes.

Angel de Andres Lopez is amazing as Gloria’s very selfish husband Antonio who always spend whatever he and Gloria earns while often singing German opera as he seems indifferent to what his sons do or how hard his wife work. Veronica Forque is fantastic as Cristal as an aspiring actress who works as a prostitute as she often helps out Gloria while is very close with Toni as it’s a performance that has more substance than the usual hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold caricature. Finally, there’s Carmen Maura in tremendous performance as Gloria as a woman who wants to escape from her chaotic family life while questioning her worth as it’s a very chilling yet mesmerizing performance from the actress as it’s definitely one of her best.

Que he hacho you para merecer esto? is an excellent film from Pedro Almodovar that features a phenomenal performance from Carmen Maura. Not only is it one of Almodovar’s most enduring homages to cinema but also a unique portrait of a woman trying to make sense of her life. In the end, Que he hacho you para merecer esto? is a marvelous film from Pedro Almodovar.

Pedro Almodovar Films: Pepi, Luci, Bom - Labyrinth of Passion - Dark Habits - Matador - Law of Desire - Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! - High Heels - Kika - The Flower of My Secret - Live Flesh - All about My Mother - Talk to Her - Bad Education - Volver - Broken Embraces - The Skin I Live In - I'm So Excited! - Julieta - Pain & Glory - (The Human Voice (2020 short film)) - (Parallel Mothers)

The Auteurs #37: Pedro Almodovar Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

© thevoid99 2014

Kika

Originally Written & Posted at Epinions.com on 6/14/07 w/ Additional Edits.

After 1988's international breakthrough for Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar has finally achieved the international attention he had sought for. After the film's success, Almodovar moved forward where he fell-out with longtime collaborator and actress Carmen Maura and worked with another up-and-coming young actress in Victoria Abril. Their first collaboration was 1990's highly controversial !Atame! (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!) that also starred Antonio Banderas in his last collaboration with the director for more than 20 years. The film received mixed reviews as his 1991 follow-up Tacones Lejanos (High Heels) with Abril that showed Almodovar experimenting with genres. In 1993, Almodovar teamed Abril again for their third and final collaboration with a media satire entitled Kika.

Written and directed by Almodovar, Kika tells the story of a makeup artist whose misadventures are followed by a TV news reporter for sensationalism. One of those misadventures involves the young woman's relationship with an expatriated American writer and his step-son as controversy arises. A critique over media sensationalism and such, Almodovar reveals his unique brand of humor and satire. Also starring Peter Coyote, Alex Casanovas, Rossy de Palma, Almodovar's mother Francisca Caballero, and Veronica Forque as the title character. Kika is a funny, whimsical comedy from Pedro Almodovar.

Ramon (Alex Casanovas) is a lingerie photographer who is moody at times, while would have near-fatal heart attacks in moments of shock. Upon returning home, Ramon has learned his mother (Charo Lopez) has killed herself with his American stepfather Nicholas (Peter Coyote) wounded by a gunshot in his arm. A year later, despondent over his mother's death, Ramon dies as Nicholas calls an aloof, naive make-up artist named Kika to help with the makeup on Ramon. All of a sudden, Ramon is woken up as he falls for Kika. Two years later, Ramon and Kika are officially a couple as Ramon hopes to sell his late mother's home with the help of Nicholas who had just arrived from a trip. Living with Kika's maid Juana (Rossy de Palma), Nicholas lived upstairs in the apartment building that the two live while Ramon moves downstairs with Kika.

Ramon's former psychiatrist Andrea (Victoria Abril) is now a TV host for a sensational show on violence and other acts while she wears extravagant clothing by Jean-Paul Gaultier. One of the reports involved a porno star named Paul Bazzo (Santiago Lajusticia), who is mentally ill and has just escaped from jail. Learning that Ramon is learning is selling his mother's home, Andrea talks to Nicholas about renting it for her show as Ramon learns of Andrea's appearance and is upset about it. Andrea sets Nicholas up on a date with a Mexican woman (Bibi Andersen) while he's having a secret affair with Kika and her friend Amparo (Anabel Alonso). Though Kika loves Ramon, she is struggling with the failing affair with Nicholas. Even as suspicion arises over the death of his wife and such. Nicholas' blind date hasn't gone well as Andrea wonders what happened.

Juana, who watches Andreas' show, receives an unlikely visit from Paul Bazzo who is hoping to steal things from Kika's home. After tying up Juana and knocking her unconscious, he finds Kika asleep. Suddenly, a rape ensues as it's caught by a voyeur who calls a couple of clumsy policemen. The policemen don't really help things out as they try to pull Paul away from Kika. Arriving onto the scene wearing her camera-costume is Andrea as all hell breaks loose. Andrea wants to do an interview with Kika over what happened as she is publicly humiliated. Even when Andrea shows footage of the rape from the anonymous voyeur. Ramon learned what happened as more revelations over the incident happened. Angry over Ramon's lack of usefulness and Nicholas' philandering, Kika and Juana leave the apartment.

Andrea meanwhile, wants to contact Nicholas as she learns something about him with footage uncovered from his date with the Mexican woman. Truths come out in which, Kika finds herself in the middle of mystery gone horribly wrong.

Given the idea of media sensationalism in the early 90s, Almodovar definitely revealed a lot of the exploitive nature of sensationalism from the hand-held cameras that show incidents and such in order to gain ratings. Yet, that's not what the film is about. What Almodovar is saying is that the film is about a woman who finds herself in the middle of sensational world of media whether it's TV in the form of Andrea or literature in the form of Nicholas. There's these two people in Andrea and Nicholas who are willing to do anything to create some attention whether to gain ratings or sell books, respectively. There's definitely a cynicism and anger Almodovar has towards these types of media while the person who is always the victim is the one who is used for any type of creativity.

While Almodovar's script and direction is filled with a lot of humor and whimsical scenes, even the rape scene is done with a lot of humor. Yet, shock is what Almodovar goes for. What doesn't work is that the script does feel uneven in its bending of genres whether it's comedy, drama, or mystery. The film, towards the end, even goes to the point where it acts like a crime film. The script plus, Almodovar's direction kind of fails in what type of film it wants to be. Still, it's humor and shock does make it the type of film that is expected from Almodovar.

Cinematographer Alfredo Mayo creates some wonderfully, colorful images in the film. Especially on the location of Madrid and parts of Spain while the video-camera work is pretty grainy to emphasis the look of sensationalism. Set decorators Alain Bainee and Javier Fernandez create wonderful look to the film's colorful sets like the apartment of Ramon and some of the night sets of Madrid. Costume designer Jose Maria De Cossio creates some wonderful, elaborate costumes for some of the film's cast that includes some additional work from the late Gianni Versace. One of the greatest highlights of the costumes are the clothes Jean-Paul Gaultier made for Victoria Abril that are extravagant and over-the-top. Longtime editor Jose Salcedo does some fine editing although it falters at first in the film's first act due to pacing issues.

Sound editor Jean-Paul Miguel does great work on the film's sound to create the suspense and such. The film's soundtrack features a wide mix of pop music and a lot of score music from Bernard Herrmann to create the suspense of mystery along with its dashes of humor. Along with a cut by Kurt Weill, the film's soundtrack is memorable for its whimsical tone.

The cast features some memorable small performances from Bibi Andersen, Charo Lopez, Anabel Alonso, and Pedro Almodovar's mother Francisca Caballero as a TV host whose failed eyesight causes problems during an interview with Nicholas. Jesus Bonilla and Karra Elejade are good as the clumsy, lazy policeman who find themselves a bit overwhelmed during an act of crime. Santiago Lajusticia is excellent as the mentally-ill, porno star Paul Bazzo who hides a secret while committing an act of rape due to his time in jail. Rossy de Palma is good as Kika's loyal maid Juana who hides her own secrets and reasons into why she's a lesbian. Alex Casanovas is wonderful as the melancholic Ramon, who still mourns the death of his mother, while having a strange thing for photographing himself and Kika having sex. It's a fine performance from the young actor.

American actor Peter Coyote is good in his role as Nicholas though his voice is largely dubbed by another Spanish actor. Coyote definitely brings a complex, shady performance as a writer who finds himself short on money and having to do TV writing work for Andrea. It's a fine yet flawed performance from the actor. Victoria Abril gives a hilarious performance as Andrea Scarface, a TV reporter who is willing to go into any lengths to get her story. Even if she has to wear a robotic-like equipment with lights for a bra and a camera on her head. It's a hilarious performance from the Spanish superstar. Veronica Forque is pretty funny as the naive, aloof titular character of Kika. Forque's performance is winning with a charming, kooky personality that is a joy to watch though she is dumb. Yet, Forque makes the audience care for her in the struggles she goes through.

While it's nowhere near the brilliance of earlier films like Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios or recent classics like Todo Sobre Mi Madre, Hable con Ella, and 2006's Volver. Kika is still an entertaining and fun film from Pedro Almodovar. Despite a wonderful cast, colorful images and sets, flashy costumes, and a great soundtrack. It's a film that represents Almodovar in style over substance. Fans of the director will might consider this as minor work though it does have it's moment. The film is still Almodovar in his extravagance. In the end, Kika despite its flaws is a joy to watch.

Pedro Almodovar Films: Pepi, Luci, Bom - Labyrinth of Passion - Dark Habits - What Have I Done to Deserve This? - Matador - Law of Desire - Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! - High Heels - The Flower of My Secret - Live Flesh - All About My Mother - Talk to Her - Bad Education - Volver - Broken Embraces - The Skin I Live In - I'm So Excited! - Julieta - Pain & Glory - (The Human Voice (2020 short film)) - (Parallel Mothers)

The Auteurs #37: Pedro Almodovar Pt. 1 - Pt. 2

© thevoid99 2011