MAY 30, 2013

CARNE TREMULA/ Live Flesh (1997)  Directed by Pedro Almodovar. ****

Almodovar was a bit of a mystery to me. I knew he was highly regarded and a couple of my friends count him among their very favourite directors, but somehow he kept slipping past my radar. That changed when I caught THE SKIN I LIVE IN on television (and immediately ordered a copy from Amazon) which seemed to me a sophisticated mixture of Georges Franju and an up-dated Bela Lugosi mad scientist movie. I also ordered a box set of some of the director's older films. I watched TIE ME UP, TIE ME DOWN which was well made, well acted, very erotic (Pedro does erotic very well) but didn't really work for me, despite seeing how it might work for others. The box set has sat on my shelf for months, until last night when, without too much enthusiasm I watched LIVE FLESH - and loved it!  The plot is complicated and to try and describe it would undoubtedly involve spoilers so I'm just going to settle for recommending it. The title, LIVE FLESH, refers not only to the eroticism of a few scenes but perhaps to the film's sheer physicality - sport, sex, violence, physical handicap. can't wait to get back to that box set.