So I am still working on both pieces and decided to continue to piggy back the work of others which has so far involved alternating between the films of Bergman and Almodovar, other cinema, recent theatre and other cultural events. Today the decision is for something self indulgent, wicked, irreverential and down right silly. You have guessed it an Almodovar film, "What have I done to deserve this? A plea which most of us make at least once in our lives, if not as frequently as once a day?
I found the film funny with delicious moments such as early on when a cleaner uses a mop to imitate an Akendo class, or when she admits to a policeman, she has screwed, that she killed her husband with a chop, he advises her not to tell anyone else. Chop Chop, get it?
The film is a joyous rant against or in favour of the imprisonment of the working class in flat block land, where goodness gracious me, there is a tart next door enjoying herself and making lots of dosh, the youngest school age son is sleeping with an older man, the eldest son is selling drugs, a relative eats fairy cakes as a main course and regards scraps of a chicken as desert while the murdered husband was a fascist nut. Mother, well. she is a works hard as a manual labourer, indulges in indiscriminate sex, enjoys prescription drugs and gets what she wishes for with help from the child of a neighbour who has the power of mind over matter, and moreover the woman appears to have none of the angst of the thinking and sophisticated classes.
I ended the viewing asking what I had done to deserve spending time viewing films about people enjoying themselves in ways which did not involve viewing films. I still cannot make up my mind about Almodovar. Is he being critical of others? Is he trying to change Spanish society in a particular direction? Or is he just having lots of fun and making lots and lots of dosh asking himself over and over again what has he done to deserve this?
I found the film funny with delicious moments such as early on when a cleaner uses a mop to imitate an Akendo class, or when she admits to a policeman, she has screwed, that she killed her husband with a chop, he advises her not to tell anyone else. Chop Chop, get it?
The film is a joyous rant against or in favour of the imprisonment of the working class in flat block land, where goodness gracious me, there is a tart next door enjoying herself and making lots of dosh, the youngest school age son is sleeping with an older man, the eldest son is selling drugs, a relative eats fairy cakes as a main course and regards scraps of a chicken as desert while the murdered husband was a fascist nut. Mother, well. she is a works hard as a manual labourer, indulges in indiscriminate sex, enjoys prescription drugs and gets what she wishes for with help from the child of a neighbour who has the power of mind over matter, and moreover the woman appears to have none of the angst of the thinking and sophisticated classes.
I ended the viewing asking what I had done to deserve spending time viewing films about people enjoying themselves in ways which did not involve viewing films. I still cannot make up my mind about Almodovar. Is he being critical of others? Is he trying to change Spanish society in a particular direction? Or is he just having lots of fun and making lots and lots of dosh asking himself over and over again what has he done to deserve this?
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