Review of Bad Education (2004) by Ignas R — 11 Nov 2009

While Bad Education is every bit as ambitious, colorful, and layered as any of Almodovar's films, it fell a bit flat for me. Certain sequences were captivating, especially in the first half of the film, and Gael Garcia Bernal is electrifying in his double role. However, Bad Education gets a bit lost in its own twists and self-referenciality, and ends up feeling more like an excercise in style than anything else. I love Almodovar's boldness and visual style - both of which are present here in spades - but I also love the heart he puts into his characters. That, sadly, is a bit missing from Bad Education. Still pretty good, and I was always interested, but not one of Almodovar's best.

And a small rant - while I wouldn't argue against Bad Education's rating, it's absolutely ridiculous that this was slapped with an NC-17 while the more sexually graphic (not to mention extremely violent) Hostel only got an R rating a year later. There's plenty of other R-rated films I can think of that are more graphic than Bad Education - the ratings board is bizarre sometimes.