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Review: Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria) (2019)
This was an alright movie by Almodovar. It was a little disjointed, but overall I wasn't as taken out of the story as I have for some of his other films. So this film had potential, but ultimately I think the executation was a little clumsy.
Spoilers.
Story
I felt that this movie didn't have that strong of a plot. It was mostly an exploration of Salvador's sexuality and past loves, but I felt that we didn't really get a good discussion out of it. Rather, I felt that Almodovar just presented to us some of Salvador's past experiences without really telling us what it meant to Salvador.
As a youth, Salvador enjoyed singing, and it landed him in the choir. What did that result in? Nothing much. It was just a point in his life.
After he and his mother moved into the cave, Salvador started tutoring Eduardo, an illiterate bricklayer and painter. Eduardo was his first crush, and also probably his first male role model, as it seemed like his father wasn't around that much. What came of it? Not much but the painting that Salvador found years later. Though, the painting was very emotionally moving to Salvador, as it was a representation of the pure love he had for Eduardo, and Eduardo's friendship and gratitude towards Salvador.
Like the main characters in many of Almodovar's other movies, Salvador became involved in film. In particular, he was a director and writer.
In his youth, he'd fallen deeply in love with a man called Federico. However, Federico was into heavy drugs, and even though they were madly in love, Salvador could not continue on with him. The result? A very moving play, and a reunion with Federico years later. Though their reunion did feel a bit "bros," I did ultimately find their reunion touching and charming. But what bothered me about Salvador and Federico's relationship was that it sort of came out of nowhere, until Alberto read the script. It was hard to see Federico's effect on Salvador's life, except maybe his past hatred for drugs. And for a period of time, Salvador did get into hard drugs, but his reunion with Federico reminded him of why he hated them in the first place. Not that I felt that Salvador needed to have been totally cripped by his relationship with Federico, but it really did seem to come out of nowhere for me. I didn't feel like Salvador was as deeply affected for his love for Federico, even when compared to his love for Eduardo.
We were told that 32 years ago, Salvador had made a movie featuring Alberto. At the time, he deeply hated the movie because Alberto did not heed his direction. And they didn't speak for 32 years because of that. However, he watched the movie again and found that he liked it, and so that pushed him to reach out to Alberto.
His relationship with Alberto mended itself after Alberto started giving him drugs which calmed down the pain that Salvador had been going through (physical and emotional), to the point that Salvador even gave Alberto the script to Addiction, which is quite ironic.
Chronologically speaking, at the end of the story, Salvador finally went to the doctor and got surgery to fix up some of the pain he was going through.
My qualms with the movie were that all of these small facts about Salvador were presented in an almost episodic manner. Salvador's pain was presented to us in a montage, but it never really became a problem as Salvador went about his life as normal. I had no idea he was hiding a grand epic love with Federico until Alberto performed his play. I felt like I would have been more invested in the story if I saw more hints of these aspects of Salvador that were bleeding into one another. The first half of the movie seemed to be about his increasing addiction to hard drugs, and it was only at the half way mark that we started to understand that he should have an aversion to drugs because of past experiences.
Another thing that didn't make me love the story that much is that at this point, with the number of Almodovar movies I've watched, he does come back to the same themes over and over again sometimes, and it can get a bit old.
Salvador as a person was fine, I just wished that the story around him could have been written in a more comprehensive rather than an episode manner.
Production
The production quality of the movie was fine. This was one of Almodovar's newer movies, so the movie looked great.
The acting was good too. I did like Antonio Banderas more than some of Almodovar's other main characters in his other movies. I'm not sure how much of it was Antonio Banders' portrayal and how much of it was the writing around him. But overall, I found Salvador to be more pleasant of a main character.
Like in many of Almodovar's other movies, he had the "movie in a movie" aspect in which we were watching a movie being made. Almodovar was making the movie of his childhood. But at this point, it's kind of getting old. I think Almodovar decided to do it because his main character once again is involved in film. At this point it feels like he's kind of running out of ideas.
Characters
Salvador Mallo
Salvador was our main character. I mostly explained his life story above. But as I also said, I felt like he wasn't as comprehensive as a character because his traits seemed not to bleed into one another as I might have hoped.
The first half of the movie was about him coming to terms with the movie Flavour, and reconnecting with Alberto. One of the ways he reconnected with Alberto was through sharing drugs. It became so much of a thing that Salvador skipped out on a film panel because he was doing drugs with Alberto.
I'm not totally sure why Salvador decided to give the script of Addiction to Alberto, because it was such a private story. How would he had ensured that Alberto was going to give it justice? Perhaps it was because at that point, he had gotten over Federico, so he was ready to let go of the script. And in letting go of Federico, he'd also forgotten how destructive drugs could be. He was so over Federico that he didn't even go to Alberto's show.
It was only when Federico showed up back in his life that he remembered what he'd gone through and afterwards he got rid of his drugs. If that was the case, what came of his relationship with Alberto? Would he keep letting Alberto perform his play? (Well, I think he gave Alberto the rights, so I guess there's nothing that could be done.)
And I guess that was also what prompted him to seek help for his chronic pain. The doctors found the source of the pain and were going to fix him up, I guess.
And around that time, he saw the painting that Eduardo had done of him as a child. Salvador implied that he wasn't going to find Eduardo, as it would be too difficult, and that the gift of the painting was enough. I do 100% believe that it was enough for Salvador. Maybe it was because Banderas' acting was convincing enough. I really did think that the knowledge that Eduardo did care for him in his own way was enough for his childhood love of Eduardo.
Anyway, Salvador was an interesting character but as I mentioned, the story around him was weirdly executed.
Alberto Crespo
Alberto was the actor that Salvador had a falling out with 32 years ago, because of differences in creative direction. In the present, Salvador had rewatched the movie and found that he didn't hate it so much, and therefore didn't hate Alberto so much. Zulema said that it was Salvador who changed, as the movie hadn't. So what had brought about the change? Again, an example of somewhat disjointed story telling.
Anyway, Salvador approached Alberto because their movie was going to be screened, and he wanted them to present the movie together. Their relationship didn't get off to a great start but Salvador was interested in the drugs Alberto was taking an that seemed to be reason enough for Alberto to see him as a bro. The two got so tied up in drugs that they didn't even go to the film viewing of their movie, because they were so busy taking drugs...
On a visit to Salvador's home, Alberto read the script Addiction and he wanted it a lot. Salvador eventually relented and Alberto performed it very well, so much so that he touched Federico, the love interest who was depicted in the play.
Alberto kind of dropped out of the story afterwards.
Mercedes
I find that many of Almodovar's movies have male characters with an utterly devoted female secretary or assistant and it's kind of getting on my nerves. As the other characters in other movies, Mercedes has no goal in life but to serve all of Salvador's purposes except romantic. Otherwise, they take care of the entire household.
And it's Mercedes who goes through Salvador's health issues with him. Not any of his love interests. It's kind of grating to me because I've seen it so many times in his movies now.
Jacinta
Jacinta was Salvador's mother. She wasn't a major character in my opinion. She was there, but I can't think of her as a major influence on Salvador's life.
Jacinta was kind of grumpy, but I think it was just because she was busy taking care of Salvador and taking care of the house. During the flashback scenes (really Salvador's movie), I wondered if Eduardo and Jacinta had feelings for one another. I felt that perhaps it was implied, as there was one scene in which Salvador was teaching Eduardo to write and Jacinta had briefly looked at the picture of her and Venancio, her husband, who was busy at work.
In old age, Jacinta remained grumpy. But there was also apparently the added baggage of Salvador not being the son that Jacinta wanted? This came out of nowhere. As a child, Salvador did everything that Jacinta wanted. Even though he didn't like the seminary, he went to school there anyway. And he ended up being successful and presumably rich, which would have solved Jacinta's worries about making money.
So if Jacinta was disappointed with Salvador, what was it about? Was it his sexuality? If it was just A Thing that Jacinta had, there was no sign of it at all. Again, disjointed story telling.
Eduardo
Eduardo was Salvador's student and his first crush. Eduardo was much older than Salvador and already had a girlfriend. But he spent a lot of time with Salvador and he was quite good looking, so I can see why Salvador might have fallen in love with him.
In addition, Eduardo treated him like a person. He heeded Salvador's words as a teacher, he spoke to him like an adult sometimes. And in the end, we saw that he did care for Salvador, drawing a picture of him as a gift. He even wrote a wonderfully touching letter on the back ;_;
Federico
Federico was another of Salvador's great loves in life, though we only heard about him through Alberto's performance (again the performance in a performance method used by Almodovar). Federico and Salvador were deeply in love, but Federico's addiction to drugs was a challenge to their relationship, and in the end, Salvador chose to leave, as painful as it was. And that likely drove his hatred for drugs during the maing of Flavour.
I did really like Salvador and Federico's reunion though. It was clear that they were very close, even if their body language seemed a bit platonic at first. They were catching up like old friends do, perhaps not wanting to rush into anything. After they got the factual stuff out of the way, Federico started sharing his family with Salvador, showing him pictures of his sons, telling him about his love life.
And their parting admittedly was very touching. There was still romantic and sexual attraction, and I felt like Federico was kind of into the idea of having a fling, but Salvador at the time figured that it wouldn't be a good idea to sleep with him. Maybe he was past Federico already, or maybe he was just being mature about it, seeing as how Federico was technically in a relationship.
Even though they started off a bit stiff, I liked that they grew warmer and mor casual with each other. It really made me feel that they were okay now.
Themes
Because of the episode nature of the story telling, a lot of the themes weren't particularly strong.
Love was a main theme, but what about it? What effect did it have on Salvador. He had a crush on Eduardo, what did that change except tell Salvador that he liked men? What did his relationship with Federico tell him except that he hated drugs?
Is his hatred of drugs directly related to his relationship with Federico and love? Was that why he was willing to get into drugs when he felt that he was firmly over Federico?
Then there was that brief suggestion that Salvador wasn't the son that Jacinta wanted but that came from nowhere and went nowhere.
So the themes here were not strong. This was still more of a character-driven story.
Overall
This movie had potential as the main character of Salvador was very likeable. But the story was not well executed and too choppy. As well, I feel like Almodovar might be running out of tricks as some of his movies feel very similar.
Spoilers.
Story
I felt that this movie didn't have that strong of a plot. It was mostly an exploration of Salvador's sexuality and past loves, but I felt that we didn't really get a good discussion out of it. Rather, I felt that Almodovar just presented to us some of Salvador's past experiences without really telling us what it meant to Salvador.
As a youth, Salvador enjoyed singing, and it landed him in the choir. What did that result in? Nothing much. It was just a point in his life.
After he and his mother moved into the cave, Salvador started tutoring Eduardo, an illiterate bricklayer and painter. Eduardo was his first crush, and also probably his first male role model, as it seemed like his father wasn't around that much. What came of it? Not much but the painting that Salvador found years later. Though, the painting was very emotionally moving to Salvador, as it was a representation of the pure love he had for Eduardo, and Eduardo's friendship and gratitude towards Salvador.
Like the main characters in many of Almodovar's other movies, Salvador became involved in film. In particular, he was a director and writer.
In his youth, he'd fallen deeply in love with a man called Federico. However, Federico was into heavy drugs, and even though they were madly in love, Salvador could not continue on with him. The result? A very moving play, and a reunion with Federico years later. Though their reunion did feel a bit "bros," I did ultimately find their reunion touching and charming. But what bothered me about Salvador and Federico's relationship was that it sort of came out of nowhere, until Alberto read the script. It was hard to see Federico's effect on Salvador's life, except maybe his past hatred for drugs. And for a period of time, Salvador did get into hard drugs, but his reunion with Federico reminded him of why he hated them in the first place. Not that I felt that Salvador needed to have been totally cripped by his relationship with Federico, but it really did seem to come out of nowhere for me. I didn't feel like Salvador was as deeply affected for his love for Federico, even when compared to his love for Eduardo.
We were told that 32 years ago, Salvador had made a movie featuring Alberto. At the time, he deeply hated the movie because Alberto did not heed his direction. And they didn't speak for 32 years because of that. However, he watched the movie again and found that he liked it, and so that pushed him to reach out to Alberto.
His relationship with Alberto mended itself after Alberto started giving him drugs which calmed down the pain that Salvador had been going through (physical and emotional), to the point that Salvador even gave Alberto the script to Addiction, which is quite ironic.
Chronologically speaking, at the end of the story, Salvador finally went to the doctor and got surgery to fix up some of the pain he was going through.
My qualms with the movie were that all of these small facts about Salvador were presented in an almost episodic manner. Salvador's pain was presented to us in a montage, but it never really became a problem as Salvador went about his life as normal. I had no idea he was hiding a grand epic love with Federico until Alberto performed his play. I felt like I would have been more invested in the story if I saw more hints of these aspects of Salvador that were bleeding into one another. The first half of the movie seemed to be about his increasing addiction to hard drugs, and it was only at the half way mark that we started to understand that he should have an aversion to drugs because of past experiences.
Another thing that didn't make me love the story that much is that at this point, with the number of Almodovar movies I've watched, he does come back to the same themes over and over again sometimes, and it can get a bit old.
Salvador as a person was fine, I just wished that the story around him could have been written in a more comprehensive rather than an episode manner.
Production
The production quality of the movie was fine. This was one of Almodovar's newer movies, so the movie looked great.
The acting was good too. I did like Antonio Banderas more than some of Almodovar's other main characters in his other movies. I'm not sure how much of it was Antonio Banders' portrayal and how much of it was the writing around him. But overall, I found Salvador to be more pleasant of a main character.
Like in many of Almodovar's other movies, he had the "movie in a movie" aspect in which we were watching a movie being made. Almodovar was making the movie of his childhood. But at this point, it's kind of getting old. I think Almodovar decided to do it because his main character once again is involved in film. At this point it feels like he's kind of running out of ideas.
Characters
Salvador Mallo
Salvador was our main character. I mostly explained his life story above. But as I also said, I felt like he wasn't as comprehensive as a character because his traits seemed not to bleed into one another as I might have hoped.
The first half of the movie was about him coming to terms with the movie Flavour, and reconnecting with Alberto. One of the ways he reconnected with Alberto was through sharing drugs. It became so much of a thing that Salvador skipped out on a film panel because he was doing drugs with Alberto.
I'm not totally sure why Salvador decided to give the script of Addiction to Alberto, because it was such a private story. How would he had ensured that Alberto was going to give it justice? Perhaps it was because at that point, he had gotten over Federico, so he was ready to let go of the script. And in letting go of Federico, he'd also forgotten how destructive drugs could be. He was so over Federico that he didn't even go to Alberto's show.
It was only when Federico showed up back in his life that he remembered what he'd gone through and afterwards he got rid of his drugs. If that was the case, what came of his relationship with Alberto? Would he keep letting Alberto perform his play? (Well, I think he gave Alberto the rights, so I guess there's nothing that could be done.)
And I guess that was also what prompted him to seek help for his chronic pain. The doctors found the source of the pain and were going to fix him up, I guess.
And around that time, he saw the painting that Eduardo had done of him as a child. Salvador implied that he wasn't going to find Eduardo, as it would be too difficult, and that the gift of the painting was enough. I do 100% believe that it was enough for Salvador. Maybe it was because Banderas' acting was convincing enough. I really did think that the knowledge that Eduardo did care for him in his own way was enough for his childhood love of Eduardo.
Anyway, Salvador was an interesting character but as I mentioned, the story around him was weirdly executed.
Alberto Crespo
Alberto was the actor that Salvador had a falling out with 32 years ago, because of differences in creative direction. In the present, Salvador had rewatched the movie and found that he didn't hate it so much, and therefore didn't hate Alberto so much. Zulema said that it was Salvador who changed, as the movie hadn't. So what had brought about the change? Again, an example of somewhat disjointed story telling.
Anyway, Salvador approached Alberto because their movie was going to be screened, and he wanted them to present the movie together. Their relationship didn't get off to a great start but Salvador was interested in the drugs Alberto was taking an that seemed to be reason enough for Alberto to see him as a bro. The two got so tied up in drugs that they didn't even go to the film viewing of their movie, because they were so busy taking drugs...
On a visit to Salvador's home, Alberto read the script Addiction and he wanted it a lot. Salvador eventually relented and Alberto performed it very well, so much so that he touched Federico, the love interest who was depicted in the play.
Alberto kind of dropped out of the story afterwards.
Mercedes
I find that many of Almodovar's movies have male characters with an utterly devoted female secretary or assistant and it's kind of getting on my nerves. As the other characters in other movies, Mercedes has no goal in life but to serve all of Salvador's purposes except romantic. Otherwise, they take care of the entire household.
And it's Mercedes who goes through Salvador's health issues with him. Not any of his love interests. It's kind of grating to me because I've seen it so many times in his movies now.
Jacinta
Jacinta was Salvador's mother. She wasn't a major character in my opinion. She was there, but I can't think of her as a major influence on Salvador's life.
Jacinta was kind of grumpy, but I think it was just because she was busy taking care of Salvador and taking care of the house. During the flashback scenes (really Salvador's movie), I wondered if Eduardo and Jacinta had feelings for one another. I felt that perhaps it was implied, as there was one scene in which Salvador was teaching Eduardo to write and Jacinta had briefly looked at the picture of her and Venancio, her husband, who was busy at work.
In old age, Jacinta remained grumpy. But there was also apparently the added baggage of Salvador not being the son that Jacinta wanted? This came out of nowhere. As a child, Salvador did everything that Jacinta wanted. Even though he didn't like the seminary, he went to school there anyway. And he ended up being successful and presumably rich, which would have solved Jacinta's worries about making money.
So if Jacinta was disappointed with Salvador, what was it about? Was it his sexuality? If it was just A Thing that Jacinta had, there was no sign of it at all. Again, disjointed story telling.
Eduardo
Eduardo was Salvador's student and his first crush. Eduardo was much older than Salvador and already had a girlfriend. But he spent a lot of time with Salvador and he was quite good looking, so I can see why Salvador might have fallen in love with him.
In addition, Eduardo treated him like a person. He heeded Salvador's words as a teacher, he spoke to him like an adult sometimes. And in the end, we saw that he did care for Salvador, drawing a picture of him as a gift. He even wrote a wonderfully touching letter on the back ;_;
Federico
Federico was another of Salvador's great loves in life, though we only heard about him through Alberto's performance (again the performance in a performance method used by Almodovar). Federico and Salvador were deeply in love, but Federico's addiction to drugs was a challenge to their relationship, and in the end, Salvador chose to leave, as painful as it was. And that likely drove his hatred for drugs during the maing of Flavour.
I did really like Salvador and Federico's reunion though. It was clear that they were very close, even if their body language seemed a bit platonic at first. They were catching up like old friends do, perhaps not wanting to rush into anything. After they got the factual stuff out of the way, Federico started sharing his family with Salvador, showing him pictures of his sons, telling him about his love life.
And their parting admittedly was very touching. There was still romantic and sexual attraction, and I felt like Federico was kind of into the idea of having a fling, but Salvador at the time figured that it wouldn't be a good idea to sleep with him. Maybe he was past Federico already, or maybe he was just being mature about it, seeing as how Federico was technically in a relationship.
Even though they started off a bit stiff, I liked that they grew warmer and mor casual with each other. It really made me feel that they were okay now.
Themes
Because of the episode nature of the story telling, a lot of the themes weren't particularly strong.
Love was a main theme, but what about it? What effect did it have on Salvador. He had a crush on Eduardo, what did that change except tell Salvador that he liked men? What did his relationship with Federico tell him except that he hated drugs?
Is his hatred of drugs directly related to his relationship with Federico and love? Was that why he was willing to get into drugs when he felt that he was firmly over Federico?
Then there was that brief suggestion that Salvador wasn't the son that Jacinta wanted but that came from nowhere and went nowhere.
So the themes here were not strong. This was still more of a character-driven story.
Overall
This movie had potential as the main character of Salvador was very likeable. But the story was not well executed and too choppy. As well, I feel like Almodovar might be running out of tricks as some of his movies feel very similar.