“Love is not enough. Love may move mountains, but it’s not enough to save the person you love.” - Alberto Crespo
Pain And Glory is the newest film from the highly respected Spanish director and screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar. It stars Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Penélope Cruz, Leonardo Sbaraglia, and César Vicente. The movie competed for the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but lost to Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.
Banderas plays Salvador Mallo, a filmmaker who suffers from many physical and mental conditions that make his life very painful and difficult. Throughout the film, we meet other people who have made a great impact on Mallo’s life, and through these other people, Mallo learns to deal with his pain in ways that are constructive, yet very unexpected.
I would wager that most of you had never even heard of Pain And Glory before reading this review. Even I knew nothing about the movie when I went to see it. It’s a film that is simply not being talked about by mainstream audiences, which is very sad to me. It is my belief that Pain And Glory is a film that must be seen by everyone. I haven’t seen a movie that has personally affected me as deeply as this one did in a very long time. Its quiet intensity rocked me to my core. It’s a film so achingly beautiful that it’s almost impossible to put into words. It moved me to tears, and not because it was sad, but rather because it was indescribably gorgeous and immersive.
Pedro Almodóvar is a master at work. This was my first experience with one of his films, and it’s safe to say that I cannot wait to get my hands on his other movies. He is unbelievably careful behind the camera, and his script is hypnotic, and deeply personal. His use of color in this film is striking, and each color pops off the screen. The visual contrast is also noteworthy. Some scenes are set in the lavish apartment in which Salvador now resides, while there are other scenes set in the underground, cave-like home where he grew up. The eclectic score by Alberto Iglesias is worth mentioning as well, as it aids in making the film more immersive.
The acting in Pain And Glory is second to none. Antonio Banderas is the best I’ve ever seen him here. He commands the screen like a true veteran. Every line he delivers and every facial expression he makes oozes with raw emotion and power. Make no mistake, the other actors are mind-blowingly good, but this film belongs to Banderas.
One thing I would love to mention about the movie is its structure. To better illustrate this point, I’d like to provide a little anecdote. When I went to see this movie at an out-of-town theater, I used a self serving machine to purchase my ticket. However, the top corner of the screen stated that the film was twenty-one minutes long. “I wasn’t aware this was a short film,” I thought to myself. “This must be a mistake.”
When the film started, the story seemed very contained, and seemed to set itself up and build to a resolution very quickly. Maybe it was a short film after all! But just as one character’s arc concluded, another character was introduced. Twenty minutes later, the new character’s arc concluded, and another was introduced. Twenty minutes later, the same thing happened again. The movie felt like four or five different short films all involving Salvador Mallo and one other character. I loved this technique because it gave each supporting character equal time with Mallo. For each person that reemerges into his life, Mallo is given a new form of catharsis which helps him to deal with his physical and mental pain.
I spent over a day’s time trying to find just one single thing that I didn’t love about this movie, and I have ultimately failed to find one. This is a perfect movie in every way, and I am confident in saying that it is easily my favorite film of 2019 without a doubt. To everyone reading this review, I urge you to see Pain And Glory before it leaves theaters. It has everything I could ever ask for in a film, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget how this beautiful masterpiece made me feel.
Rating: R
Grade: A+
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