Pedro Almodovar (Contemporary Film Directors) [Paperback]

Marvin D'Lugo (Author)

Book Description

Series: Contemporary Film Directors | Publication Date: July 11, 2006

In "Pedro Almodovar", Marvin D'Lugo offers a concise, informed, and insightful commentary on the man who has become a preeminent force in modern cinema and by far the best known Spanish filmmaker among English-speaking audiences. D'Lugo follows Almodovar's career chronologically as he moves from amateur to international celebrity, and understands the films' increasing complexity in terms of the director's central themes and the Spanish film tradition from which he comes. D'Lugo considers wide ranging critical sources and develops recognized Almodovar themes in exciting new ways, including his use of melodrama and Hollywood genre film, his self invention as a filmmaker, and his on-screen sexual politics. D'Lugo also discusses what he calls "geocultural positioning": Almodovar's paradoxical ability to use his marginal positions (in terms of his class, geographical origin, and identity) to develop an expressive language that is emotionally recognizable by audiences worldwide. Including two interviews with the director and original interpretations of his most recent films, "Pedro Almodovar" will reward new film students and specialists alike.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Spanish film director Almodóvar is a master storyteller and celebrity auteur, who has captured post-Franco Spain in such provocative films as Labyrinth of Passions and Bad Education. He is famous for his eccentric characters, gender-bender plot twists and homage to American film genres—and D'Lugo, a Clark University professor of Spanish and screen studies, succinctly chronicles his life from modest rural beginnings to his explosion on the Madrid culture scene in the 1980s and subsequent international acclaim. Be it early Super 8 shorts or creating Oscar winners All About My Mother and Talk to Her, Almodóvar's forte is exploring the intricacies of sex, death and violence. En route, he has kick-started the careers of Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, while perfecting his own brand of melodrama. His appeal is traced to what D'Lugo calls his "geocultural positioning"—an ability to transform his marginal status as a gay director from the provinces into a worldwide visual language. "I try to solve the problem of how to get the big emotion from the audience," says Almodóvar. D'Lugo analyzes his films and influences, and even provides a clever self-interview: Almodóvar on Almodóvar. For fans and film students alike, D'Lugo's contribution to the Contemporary Film Directors series celebrates the director's camp aesthetic and artistic sensibilities with insight and elan. (June)
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From Booklist

When Pedro Almodovar surfaced in the early 1980s with a series of provocative films inspired by punk culture and strongly evincing a gay sensibility, few foresaw him becoming Spain's most prominent and commercially successful filmmaker. D'Lugo traces the director's career from his 1970s Super 8 shorts onward. Almodovar's early features were influenced by film noir, melodrama, and Italian neorealism and incorporated large doses of camp and pop culture. His international commercial breakthrough came in 1998 with Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and mainstream success more recently with Talk to Her and Bad Education. Despite apparently softening his approach, Almodovar retains a rebellious streak--his remarks about the Madrid train bombings provoked the Spanish government to threaten him with arrest--and D'Lugo convincingly limns the connection between his subversive work during the decade of Spain's transition to democracy and his more conventional recent movies. An excerpted 1987 interview and a 2004 "self-interview" are appended. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; 1 edition (July 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252073614
• ISBN-13: 978-0252073618
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #618,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to Almodovar, January 3, 2007

By 

William F. Heidbreder - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pedro Almodovar (Contemporary Film Directors) (Paperback)

This short book is one of the best things available in English on Almodovar. It's part of a good series. I also recommend Pedro Almodovar: Interviews; Peter William Evans, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown; and "Almodovar's Girls (All About my Mother)" in Leo Bersani and Ulysse Dutoit, Forms of Being: Cinema, Aesthetics, Subjectivity. There is better literature in French (Notably Frederic Strauss, Conversations avec Pedro Almodovar, published by Cahiers du Cinema) and undoubtedly in Spanish.