Books & Audiobooks
In the introduction to the The Last Dream by Pedro Almodóvar, he describes how he has long been asked to write his autobiography but has never wanted to. In exchange, we receive this book of short stories and personal essays that do reflect on various elements and times in his life. For instance, the titular essay “The Last Dream” is deeply personal, addressing the death of his mother and reflecting on his childhood and family. A piece like this reads almost like a diary entry, whereas other chapters are full-on fictional short stories. He comments that the book “might be best described as a fragmentary autobiography, incomplete and a little cryptic.”
Almodóvar is a celebrated Spanish filmmaker; All About My Mother and Talk To Her being two of his most well-known movies. His films are visual feasts for the eyes often shot in Spain with a strong directorial aesthetic of primary colours and bright patterns. Almodóvar’s films are intense in nature, as he explores queer issues and themes related to family, identity and desire. If you have ever seen one of his films, you will read these stories and visualize them the same way. The first short story in the book entitled “The Visit” is actually the source for his film Bad Education. Reading it made me want to go back and rewatch the film!
We have few of his movies in our catalogue and in the spirit of reading his short stories, I just watched his new short film Strange Way of Life. This is one of his first films in English and stars Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal. Though only half an hour long, it has all of the elements of Almodóvar’s signature writing and cinema. Here he just skips right to the good stuff, there is no big build up or detailed history given, we are just thrown right into the drama. It is a western romance that involves love, passion and betrayal…a stirring 31 minutes and wonderful companion piece to his book!