Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Bad Education [Mala Educacion]

This is topic Bad Education [Mala Educacion] in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 12-18-2004, 06:12 PM:

Pedro Almodovar takes the current concern with child abuse by priests and creates a film noir in which the grown-up victims attempt to retaliate on their sexual predators.

His narrative method is most intricate, incorporating the writing of a story, the filming of a script, frequent flashback scenes of both reality and fantasy, and the exchange of identities of several characters.

The main character and narrator is a transvestite writer; others include a filmmaker, an actor, and priests. Thus the various media of creative expression, as well as spiritual faith,
are major themes. There are numerous scenes of explicit homosexual acts, ranging from tender to brutal. They are entirely germane to the story, and did not seem to upset the audience of 26 seniors, two middle-aged and two 20-something patrons on opening night at the Kew Forest Cinema. There is some grim humor through ironic dialog.

Film-tech readers will be pleased to note the character's several returns to the cinema of their childhood, reminiscent of "Cinema Paradiso", and the extreme close-ups of an operating 35mm projector which I am unable to identify, but probably our
Spanish posters will help me out here. (There's also an important but almost comical scene with a super-8 camera.)

This is my first encounter with the films of Pedro Almodovar.
(I never even saw "Talk to Her.") Though I found the film challenging at first, the complexity is resolved as the plot skein unwinds. While I am not a great fan of "who-done-its," the air of mystery and many surprises will probably appeal to many cineastes. I enjoyed this film, with its fine photography
and acting of Gael Garcia Bernal, Fele Martinez, and Javier Camara.

110 minutes, in Spanish with English titles. [Rated NC-17] Scope, well presented with a clean, sharp and bright image.

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 12-30-2004, 07:25 PM:

Entertaining enough. I never looked at my watch, but you really can't reading subtitles now, can you. [Big Grin]

The actor Lluís Homar who plays Sr. Manuel Berenguer kept looking like Kelsey Grammer to me. LOL

3 of 4 stars.

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 12-31-2004, 03:03 AM:

Looking for its arrival in the Milwaukee area at the Landmark Theatres. [Smile]