¡Viva Pedro!

Pedro Almodóvar is one of my favorite directors. Heck, he might be my all-time favorite. His movies are often hilarious (Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios), heartbreaking (Todo Sobre Mi Madre), or a combination of both (Hable Con Ella). Either way, they are always visually stunning with engrossing characters and plots. So you can imagine my excitement when I heard that there was going to be an Almodóvar film festival -- called VIVA PEDRO -- featuring eight of his movies back on the big screen for the first time. You can also imagine my sadness when I realized that it was opening in late summer and I'd probably miss it.

Well, I did miss it. Almost. But not because I was in SE Asia. I missed it because I'm an idiot of unfathomable proportions. Apparently it came to DC the day I came back, but I didn't know it. When I finally did notice that it was here, I inexplicably assumed that the date given on the website -- September 15 -- was the only showing of his films. What? Am I the dumbest person alive? Did all that flying give me a brain condition of some kind? Eight movies, one day? What the hell is wrong with me?!

It wasn't until today that I realized that the films were still showing. Well, not all. Sadly, I'll never realize my dream of seeing Mujeres . . . on the big screen. Also a bit sucky is that fact that, of the two films still showing, one of them is La Mala Educación. While still better than 90% of films out there, it just doesn't stack up relative to Pedro's other films and since I already saw it in theaters, I don't need to go again. (Although I highly recommend anyone who hasn't seen it to check it out if you can.) That leaves me with Matador. Luckily, it's a Pedro film that I haven't seen yet, it's playing through the weekend, and it's supposed to be marvelously effed up. I might still get an opportunity to see at least one classic Almodóvar masterpiece on the big screen.

Now I just need people to come with me. Except for Saturday evening (Happy Birthday Rickel!), I'm available. The stupid AFI website decided to leave off the showtimes of Matador, but they'll probably follow the same pattern of most of the Almodóvar films during the weekends: 1:00, 3:05, 5:10, 7:20, 9:30. (I'll obviously doublecheck beforehand.) I also promise to overenunciate every word I say in Spanish (sorry you won't be here, Ale).

So, who's with me?