Pedro Almodóvar: The Ultimate Collection

Description

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 Her All 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. 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.