Review of The Skin I Live In (2011) by Daniel K — 13 Mar 2012

4: I know I just said that I love Hitchcock and Miyazaki, but I love Almodovar as well. Not as much as Hitchcock, but more than Miyazaki. The only living director that might top him is Kar-Wai. Almodovar seems to work genre and play off of it, rather than working in it and being tied down to its precepts.

This could be thought of as horror, mystery, thriller, etc, but it is probably more accurate to simply classify it as Almodovar. He is like a genre unto himself, as only the greatest and most single-mindedly focused and preoccupied directors are.

The cast is familiar and outstanding; the color is vibrant; the locations and production design unforgettable; the cinematography crisp, polished, and glorious; and the story revolves heavily around the meaning of gender and the dynamics of both male/female, male/male, female/female, and male=female relationships.

I'm not really describing this accurately, but for Almodovar gender seems to be both all important and irrelevant. The performances are equally ambiguous as one is never quite sure what to make of the characters, their motivations, and their emotions.

I can hardly wait to watch it again and start looking forward to his next masterpiece, as virtually every picture he makes seems to be.