It’s been three years since we’ve heard from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar and he’s coming off the critical acclaim of “Julieta” which was the filmmaker’s 20th film and debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. As per usual, the film came out early in Spain, but was still elected to premiere in competition at Cannes—the festival loves its exclusivity and to tout its world premieres, but Almodóvar routinely gets a pass in this regard and is invited to screen regardless. His latest is a drama called “Dolor y Gloria” it stars two leads from his past, Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, and there’s still a good shot it will premiere at Cannes even if it’s coming out early in Spain this March.
Somewhat autobiographical or perhaps self-critical, “Dolor Y Gloria” centers on a film director who reflects on the choices he’s made in life as past and present come crashing down around him. Here’s an unofficial synopsis via Wikipedia.
The film narrates a series of reencounters of Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas), a film director in his decline. Some of these reencounters are physical, some others are remembered: his childhood in the 1960s, when he emigrated together with his family to Paterna in search of prosperity, the first desire, his first adult love in Madrid in the 1980s, the pain of the breakup of this relationship, writing as a therapy to forget, the premature discovery of cinema, facing the impossibility of continuing filming, etc.
It’s interesting that Banderas has always been considered something of a mediocre English actor and has never really had much of a prestigious career, but perhaps that’s a lost in translation thing; Banderas was always excellent in his native tongue and especially terrific in the films of Almodovar. Some actors are just more comfortable in their native language.
“Dolor Y Gloria” stars Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Penélope Cruz, Julieta Serrano, and Leonardo Sbaraglia. The movie is set for a March 22, opening in Spain by Sony Pictures Releasing. I’m pretty sure there’s no official U.S. distribution yet, but Sony Pictures Classics tends to distribute most of Almodovar’s films in North America. Don’t be surprised if the movie debuts at Cannes and then is picked up by SPC who releases it in the fall— a familiar pattern over the last few years. Regardless, we’ve got another taste early as the final Spanish trailer has been released and you can see that here.