Viva Pedro

Now this is my idea of a good time. In advance of the November 3 rollout of this year's Cannes hit Volver, starring likely Oscar nominee Penelope Cruz, starting August 11 in Manhattan (and platforming throughout the country this fall), Sony Pictures Classics is presenting Viva Pedro, a re-release of eight of Spain's Oscar-winning auteur Pedro Almodóvar’s best films. New prints have been made of all eight of these titles, some of which have not been shown in theaters since their initial release, and several have never been released on DVD. All have been withdrawn from the DVD marketplace during their theatrical re-release. The eight films are:

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (originally released in Spain and the United States in 1988)
All About My Mother (originally released in Spain and the United States in 1999)
Talk to Her (originally released in Spain and the United States in 2002)
Flower of My Secret (originally released in Spain in 1995 and the United States in 1996)
Live Flesh (originally released in Spain in 1996 and the United States in1997)
Law of Desire (originally released in Spain and the United States in 1987)
Matador (originally released in Spain in 1986 and the United States in 1988)
Bad Education (originally released in Spain and the United States in 2004)

Comments

[David]

It's interesting that the re-release program begins with Marador, as if all the wonderful stuff Pedro made earlier had never existed, the more John Waters-like films of his "underground" phase. "What Have I Done to Deserve This? (1984), some of us were lucky enough to catch a Toronto festival retro a few years later that included "Dark Habits" (1983), "Pepi, Luci, Bom" (1980) and my favorite of that group, "Labyrinth of Passion" (1979). Maybe there was a problem getting prints, or with their condition; or perhaps Sony thinks Pedro's new upscale art house audience would be put off by the early movies' scrappy production values and raunchy humor. I hope they're not trying to sweep those movies under the rug; they are not as polished and gorgeous as his recent work, but were even more heedlessly inventive and are still great fun to watch. They were all issued on VHS at least a decade ago, and there are probobly still some copies floating around.

[parke]

That gory nasty Matador will raise some eyebrows among newer Almodovar fans (and Banderas fans) as well. Apparently it was out for 10 seconds on NTSC region 1 DVD -- an Amazon vendor has one for $90. I saw a good laserdisc version. Great news about this series (and the inevitable DVDs to come).