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Last month, we at the Water Cooler asked our listeners to nominate entries for our Most Iconic Directors series. This new series takes the place of the Our Favorite Movies series, which ran over the past two years. Well, you voted, and the winner was Spain’s Pedro Almodóvar. Over the remainder of 2020, we will offer up one of his major films per month, doubling up once to fit in 12 feature films. First up is Laberinto de pasiones or Labyrinth of Passion.
Almodóvar’s second feature film, Labyrinth of Passion marks his first collaboration with Antonio Banderas who appears in a small supporting role. The film itself nearly defies description, full of Almodóvar’s penchant for elaborate, wacky plots and colorful supporting characters. Hated by critics on initial release, the film became a cult favorite and eventually quadrupled its production budget thanks to extended special screenings. We talk about our reactions to the strange film and what initial signs of the overall Almodóvar canon we spot.
If you love Pedro Almodóvar and want to join us for a future episode, please contact Joey (@joeymoser83) on Twitter. We’d love to have you!
We close our podcast, as always, with the Flash Forward to the media we’re most anticipating in the upcoming week.
Thanks for listening and thank you, in advance, for subscribing and rating us on Apple Podcasts!
Music from https://filmmusic.io
“Cheery Monday” by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
I always hated this film… while Pepi Luci Boom y otras chicas del montón was provocative but with ideas, satire… Labyrinth of Passion looked to me as the product of a bad trip with drugs and the first warning sign of Almodovar’s ego as an author, that could blind him about the final product of the film (something that would happen again, with the shrug inducing The Flower of my Secret, despite the outstanding supporting acting duel of Rossy de Palma and Chus Lampreave, hilarious, poignant and awards worthy)… I remember watching it well advanced his career (I was too young to see this one, in theaters), and when i dared to dig into his past work, after the acclaim of Women on the verge… and was I disappointed… this is Almodovar trying to be the spanish John Waters, far away from finding his own voice.
Watch “La flor de mi secreto” again, now that you are older.
Most underated Almodovar movie.
at all, over the top melodrama, only saved by de Palma and Lampreave whenever on screen. I could not believe a too stagey Marisa Paredes, and even less so, the works of Juan Echanove and Imanol Arias. Despite some visual treats (that embrace seen through the small mirrors), the film was mostly unbearable and boring, and I kept yearning for de Palma and Lampreave to come back on screen and give some relief. Yes, I may catch it in the future (also Labyrinth, which I haven’t seen in at least 20 years), but I am kind of certain, my judgement won’t change too much. Also about Live Flesh or High Heels, another two Almodovar that time forgot.
Yes, it’s over the top melodrama but I like it and I like Marisa Paredes in it.
The less said about Echanove and Arias the better.