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“Pain and Glory” is a Movie The Deserves to be Cherished

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5 years ago

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Pedro Almodóvar is not adverse to taking his audience to uncomfortable places. Often using comedy and melodrama, or his own unique mixture of the two, as a means in, he is so good at making movies about difficult subjects.

In his latest feature, Pain and Glory, he’s addressing perhaps the most taboo subject in modern film, aging. And this time, his style and storytelling is marked by its gentleness, affection and sincerity.

Guided by its protagonist, filmmaker Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas), the film begins with the director sitting motionless in a chair, submerged in a pool. In a moving close up, we see a surgical scar that runs nearly the length of his spine. This is a man suffering, within and without, replacing the hectic and physical work of filmmaking with the search for pain relief, whether in pools or with opioids. It is not, however, a woe-is-me tale of grumpy whining. Mallo hardly ever mentions his pain, but it is manifest in every motion and expression in Banderas’s award-winning performance. That is because his suffering seems to activate the revisiting and revitalization of childhood memories, particularly those involving he and his mother (Penelope Cruz).

For instance, that first image of the pained patient underwater transitions to a memory of his mother and her friends cleaning clothes by the river while he, the bright-eyed child, looks on, delighted by their comradery and singing. It’s a moment of connection.

The fact that this scene is evocative of a similar scene in Fellini’s 8 1/2, another film about a blocked director, points out that Pain and Glory is also a film about filmmaking.  In particular, about the ability of art-making, not only to express the deepest and most thoughtful reflections of life, but also to connect — audience to artist, but also artist to himself.

By using frequent collaborators like Banderas (who wears Almodóvar’s clothes in the film) and Cruz, and filming in his own apartment, Almodóvar is opening up this film to an autobiographical reading, but not limiting it to that. Instead, it’s about how the experiences and relationships of one’s life is what shape and define us. This is experience and knowledge earned.

What is most appealing to me about this film — and I must say I found everything about it appealing — is the way it portrays the mature honesty and truth-telling one earns through old age. Not scenes of smacking down the young for their ignorance, or the hypocritical for their self-deceit, but the gentle surrendering to reality, to one’s addictions, to one’s mistakes and follies, to one’s vulnerabilities. And embracing and acting upon one’s strengths and talents.

This is a wise film made by an artist who has earned his wisdom through not only youthful and middle-age abandon, but also a life of reflection and thought. The last shot of Mallo, the boy, and Penelope Cruz, his mother, beautifully illustrates how for Almodóvar the filmmaker and his onscreen double — and for us, his dedicated audience over the years — his art, as well as his life, has led to this moment —- and this film.

This a movie to be, not just enjoyed, but cherished.

 

 

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Paramount+ Reveals Official Main Title Sequence for the Upcoming Series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

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9 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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During the TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES panel earlier today at San Diego Comic Con, Paramount+ revealed the official main title sequence for the series. The sequence is composed by EMMY® nominee, Matt Mahaffey, known for his work on Sanjay and Craig, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie and much more. 

From the studios of the Mutant Mayhem film, the all-new Paramount+ original series TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES explores the adventures of everyone’s favorite pizza-loving heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC. Leo, Raph, Donnie and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple. The series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures.

TALES OF THE TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian, Thor: Ragnarok) and Alan Wan (Blue Eye Samurai, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [2012 Series]). Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President, TV Series Animation, Nickelodeon, and Nikki Price, Director of Development and Executive in Charge of Production.

In addition to the upcoming new series, stream all things Turtles on Paramount+.

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Comic-Con 2024: Those About to Die Activation

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12 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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DISNEY+ CASTS DANIEL DIEMER AS FAN-FAVORITE ‘TYSON’IN SEASON TWO OF “PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS”

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12 hours ago

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July 26, 2024

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 in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con, Rick Riordan and Disney+ revealed that Daniel Diemer (“Under the Bridge”) will star as fan-favorite cyclops “Tyson” in the epic adventure series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians.” Diemer joins Walker Scobell (Percy Jackson), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth Chase) and Aryan Simhadri (Grover Underwood) as a series regular. The Disney+ Original series from Disney Branded Television and 20th Television will start filming its second season next week in Vancouver.

Season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is based on the second installment of Disney Hyperion’s best-selling book series titled “The Sea of Monsters” by award-winning author Rick Riordan. In the new season, Percy Jackson returns to Camp Half-Blood one year later to find his world turned upside down. His friendship with Annabeth is changing, he learns he has a cyclops for a brother, Grover has gone missing, and camp is under siege from the forces of Kronos. Percy’s journey to set things right will take him off the map and into the deadly Sea of Monsters, where a secret fate awaits the son of Poseidon.

Diemer stars as Tyson – a young Cyclops who grew up all alone on the streets, and finds it difficult to survive in the human world.  Shy and awkward, with a heart almost as big as he is, Tyson soon discovers that Poseidon is his father, which means Percy Jackson is his half-brother… and that Tyson may have finally found a home. 

Diemer recently starred in the Hulu limited series “Under the Bridge” based off the critically acclaimed book of the same name and a tragic true story of a missing teen girl in Vancouver in 1997. He will next star in the indie “Thug” opposite Liam Neeson and Ron Perlman for director Hans Petter Moland. Daniel was recently seen as the lead in the indie “Supercell” opposite Alec Baldwin and Skeet Ulrich and the lead in the film “Little Brother” opposite Phil Ettinger and JK Simmons. Daniel can also be seen in the Netflix series “The Midnight Club” and recently starred as the male lead in the breakout hit Netflix feature “The Half Of It” from producer Anthony Bregman and director Alice Wu. He is a graduate of Victoria Academy of Dramatic Arts in Vancouver.

Created by Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg, season two of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is executive produced by Steinberg and Dan Shotz alongside Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Craig Silverstein, The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Bert Salke, The Gotham Group’s Jeremy Bell and D.J. Goldberg, James Bobin, Jim Rowe, Albert Kim, Jason Ensler and Sarah Watson.

The first season of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is available on Disney+

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