Pedro Almodóvar: The Ultimate Collection [DVD] [1990]

Descripción

Seven film box set includes: Tie Me Up Tie Me Down Recently released from a mental institution, Ricky (Antonio Banderas) sets in motion his grand plan. Hunting down the porn star with whom he once had sex, Ricky tries to convince her to be his wife. However, when she's somewhat reluctant to say the least to take up his offer of marriage, he vows to tie her down to endear himself to her...Bad Education Academy Award* winning filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar takes a look at his own adolescence as well as confronting the issue of sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church in this stylish thriller, which was chosen to open the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Bad Education narrates the reunion of two young men in early 80s Madrid, as the city starts to breathe a new air of freedom. Fifteen years earlier, in the darkness of a Catholic school, the two young men had discovered sensuality and a common hatred of the priests from whom they received their ‘bad education’.Now, in the new and liberated Madrid, both men--a filmmaker and an aspiring actor--revisit their early years together. As they try to uncover the truth about themselves, each other and the other characters in their story, they realise that things and people are not as they first seem. *2003 Best Original Screenplay, Talk To HerAll About My Mother A single mother in Madrid sees her only son die on his 17th birthday as he runs to seek an actress's autograph. She goes to Barcelona to find the lad's father, a transvestite named Lola who does not know he has a child. First she finds her friend, Agrado, also a transvestite; through him she meets Rosa, a young nun bound for El Salvador, and by happenstance, becomes the personal assistant of Huma Rojo, the actress her son admired. She helps Huma manage Nina, the co-star and Huma's lover, and she becomes Rosa's caretaker during a dicey pregnancy. With echoes of Lorca, All About Eve, and A Streetcar Named Desire, the mothers (and fathers and actors) live out grief, love, and friendship.Talk To Her Two men share an odd friendship while they care for their girlfriends who are both in deep comas. Volver Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) and her sister Sole (Lola Dueñas) are visited by the apparition of their mother (Carmen Maura), who has returned to reconcile with her daughters and resolve an issue that has haunted the family since her death. In this family drama, the living and dead co-exist without discord creating a filmic experience which is at once hilarious and yet filled with a deep, genuine emotion.Broken EmbracesHarry Caine is a successful writer but a man who writes, lives and loves in darkness. Fourteen years ago, Harry was in a brutal car crash on the island of Lanzarote, resulting in not only the loss of his sight, but of something much greater. However Harry Caine is a pseudonym and only a few people know Harry's real identity and of the life he led before the accident. Now Harry has decided to tell the moving and terrible story of his former self. A story of "amour fou", dominated by love, jealousy, treachery and fatality.The Skin I Live In Ever since his wife was burned in a car crash, Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas), an eminent plastic surgeon, has been interested in creating a new skin with which he could have saved her. After 12 years, he manages to cultivate a skin that is a real shield against every assault. In addition to years of study and experimentation, Robert needed a further three things: no scruples, an accomplice and a human guinea pig. Scruples were never a problem. Marilia, the woman who looked after him from the day he was born, is his most faithful accomplice. And as for the human guinea pig… Review: Wholly abdorbing - For Pedro Almodovar enthusiasts - this box set included most of his films Review: Hours of sublime viewing - This box set is excellent value. I won't analyse the films, I'll leave that for others, but all of the films are so enjoyable, there isn't a poor one in the set. There's drama, tragedy, comedy, death, sex, glamour, beautiful people and beautiful scenery. Just gorgeous.