Yes! ¡Atame! will FINALLY be released on DVD on January 16, 2001....nearly 10 years after it was originally released! Maybe this will calm the dealers on ebay selling used long out of print VHS originals for $50+.
Regarding Almodovar's "over the top" scenes, I think he is a master of symbolism, gesture and innuendo. When you consider that Almodovar's formative years where during the heyday and subsequent fall of Franco it's a wonder that the films are as tame as they are.
yes, some of the scenes like that in Matador and especially the scene in Kika where 'Paul Bazzo', (get it?) jumps off the balcony are quite gross. But it's all part of the story, whereas in American cinema most nudity, etc that is shown is gratuitous and has nothing to do with what is going on in the plot. But if you have seen La flor de mi secreto there is virtually nothing offending to anyone in that movie....and he received critisism that it was not a true 'Almodovar' film. But you come to realize that one of the primary elements of an El Deseo SA production is the fact that he can take crazy characters and scenes and present them to us as if they were the most normal things in the world (the mambotaxista is Almodovar himself!).
His latest, All about my mother is light years ahead of his previous work however, being his most mature and professional work to date. I highly recommend this look at Almodovar's cinema by Paul Julian Smith. We used this as a supplemental text to an Almodovar Cinema university class.
Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodovar
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859843042/qid=974398650/sr=1-2/103-3572896-5 175041 Leche
[This message has been edited by Leche (edited 11-16-2000).]
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