While despair underlies Almodovar's film...the director attempts to lighten up with some misplaced jokes. These, though, are never any more than a brief respite from the irritating mess in which the characters embroil themselves.
Live Flesh (1997)
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Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:28
Rotten:8
Average Rating:7/10
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: A shooting in the Madrid apartment of Elena (Francesca Neri), an Italian dope addict, leaves policeman David (Javier Bardem) a paraplegic and Victor (Liberto Rabal), her would-be date, in prison.... A shooting in the Madrid apartment of Elena (Francesca Neri), an Italian dope addict, leaves policeman David (Javier Bardem) a paraplegic and Victor (Liberto Rabal), her would-be date, in prison. Years later, Victor gets out of jail but is obsessed with Elena, now clean, sober, and married to David, who has transcended his handicap by becoming a wheelchair basketball champion. The brooding, resentful Victor starts sleeping with their friend Clara (Ángela Molina), the sexually restless wife of David's jealous, alcoholic former cop partner, and finds out some harsh truths about what really happened that fateful night. Eventually love, desire, obsession, and betrayal all whirlwind into confrontations both deadly and intensely sexual. Based on the novel by Ruth Rendell, this colorful, vibrant film from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar overflows with rich, sensual performances and beauty captured by graceful camerawork, enhanced by a sizzling musical score by Alberto Iglesias. Penélope Cruz appears as Victor's mother, a prostitute who gives birth to him on a bus in the film's brilliant opening. [More]
Starring: Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal, Ángela Molina
Starring: Javier Bardem, Francesca Neri, Liberto Rabal, Ángela Molina, José Sancho, Penélope Cruz, Pilar Bardem
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Story: Ruth Rendell
Composer: Alberto Iglesias
Producer: Agustin Almodovar
Screenwriter: Pedro Almodóvar
Reviews for Live Flesh
Almodovar has a keen eye with the camera, and this helps keep us interested. His love of coincidence also creates some moments of the unexpected.
It's an impressive display of range from one of film's true maverick talents.
The film lacks the anarchic weirdness of some of his best, and without the camp elements it becomes obvious just how like a telenovela the goings-on are.
Remarkably taut, logical, even well framed, featuring the usual elements which make life worth living: revenge, lust, and guilt and redemption.
Almodovar's storytelling is as outrageously stylish and compelling as it's ever been, though some of the character developments are disappointingly downbeat.
The film also feels curiously underpopulated, unenlivened by any sparky character bits.
Witness the increasing promise of Pedro Almodóvar, in a film that has gone largely unnoticed in his career but stands as a worthy and mostly mainstream entry into his unique style of twisted relationship movies.
The overall purpose of Live Flesh, the latest and reputedly most 'mature' work from Spanish bad-boy director Pedro Almodovar, remains engigmatic.
Latest News for Live Flesh
February 08, 2005:
Cruz and Almodovar Collaborate Again
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