la mala educacion
May. 25th, 2004 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lobelia321Last night, I saw Almodovar's La mala educacion (Bad Education) with Gael Garcia Bernal (thank you, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crazybutsound for the inspiration!). The film was spellbinding. And Bernal is an outstanding actor. What a layered performance! Now him I'd happily cast as anyone in my fics. In fact, I think his acting ability is better than my fics warrant: finally, an actor who can act!
In a way, he was the lynchpin of a very complicated, layered film. I'd seen Talk to Her the night before and during the first 40 minutes or so of Bad Education I thought, well this is nice and I do like seeing manbums on screen, and thick thatches of pubes, but it's not quite as good as Talk to Her. Then, suddenly, the plot twists and the film acquires a second layer. Everything I'd seen up to then becomes focalised and filtered, and there's a sort of pull at understanding. Whoa. And then it happens again: a third layer. And so it goes on, breathlessly engrossing. And beautifully, absolutely beautifully, shot - understated but very, very careful. And Bernal manages to be completely convincing in all of these different layers and in each one of his complicated roles; marvellous.
And it's so nice to see a non-Hollywood film. Real bodies! Real fucking! And no excess of violence to spoil the last 30 minutes. Also, Spanish is really a very beautiful language; I loved bathing in it sound for 90 minutes. And Bernal speaking Castilian: I can't imagine what the effect must be on a Spanish-speaking audience but it certainly also sounded very nice. (Or is it Lij being English? In which case, cringe. But I can't believe that Bernal does anything that is less than perfect.)
crazybutsound for the inspiration!). The film was spellbinding. And Bernal is an outstanding actor. What a layered performance! Now him I'd happily cast as anyone in my fics. In fact, I think his acting ability is better than my fics warrant: finally, an actor who can act!In a way, he was the lynchpin of a very complicated, layered film. I'd seen Talk to Her the night before and during the first 40 minutes or so of Bad Education I thought, well this is nice and I do like seeing manbums on screen, and thick thatches of pubes, but it's not quite as good as Talk to Her. Then, suddenly, the plot twists and the film acquires a second layer. Everything I'd seen up to then becomes focalised and filtered, and there's a sort of pull at understanding. Whoa. And then it happens again: a third layer. And so it goes on, breathlessly engrossing. And beautifully, absolutely beautifully, shot - understated but very, very careful. And Bernal manages to be completely convincing in all of these different layers and in each one of his complicated roles; marvellous.
And it's so nice to see a non-Hollywood film. Real bodies! Real fucking! And no excess of violence to spoil the last 30 minutes. Also, Spanish is really a very beautiful language; I loved bathing in it sound for 90 minutes. And Bernal speaking Castilian: I can't imagine what the effect must be on a Spanish-speaking audience but it certainly also sounded very nice. (Or is it Lij being English? In which case, cringe. But I can't believe that Bernal does anything that is less than perfect.)