We caught this film at an advanced showing in London prior to its UK release.
Lambasted by critics, this is a sort of return to comic roots for Almodovar after a run of serious introspective dramas, rather as Woody Allen did in the mid Nineties. Like a lot of his work, it owes a conscious homage to the classics of Hollywood, in this case the old portmanteau disaster movies, ("Airport" and sequels for example) where a cross section of troubled souls with their own personal stories and secrets would slowly gel as a group as they faced sudden death from various unexpected calamities. The calamity here is that a "Peninsula" airlines flight from Madrid to Mexico cannot land because the wheels have been accidentally wrecked by Cameo-ing ex- Almodovaristas Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas (as married baggage handlers).
The passengers include the usual shady lot, the banker running away from a financial scandal that will send him to prison, as well as an estranged daughter he has not spoken to in years, the handsome mysterious stranger with a dark secret, the glamorous middle aged celebrity "madam" with a secret stash of incriminating films of major world VIPs that make her fear for her life, the timid psychic who's gift has also condemned her to a lifetime of virginity, and the playboy actor running out on another younger lover who comes to realise the importance of love. There are also a couple of young honeymooners that have little real input into things.
The crew are equally cliché, except that the usual romantic complications (pilot having on-off relationship with stewardess, married pilot considering straying, etc) are all of a homosexual nature and are happen between men (there is a team of female stewardesses, but they, like the economy class passengers, are drugged to avoid panic!) The two main pilots are a butch pair, but the three male stewards are all screaming Gay Queens who bitch and moan and call each other by girl's names and even try to lighten the tension with a musical number (the one in all the trailers). Gay characters were always present in Almodovar's work, both comic and serious, but these guys might come across as offensive stereotypes of the kind a lot of Gay people don't like.
Like many disaster movies, it is set in a confined space, and is almost like a filmed play. The only interlude is when the actor tries to call his emotionally disturbed lover (Paz Vega in another cameo) in Madrid, but through the usual twist of almost supernatural fate, ends up speaking to another former lover, and rekindling their relationship over the phone.
The film plays out both as homage to Hollywood disaster films with passages of straight drama (Usually accompanied by generic old time dramatic music) interspersed with Gay comedy. There are several sex scenes, but nothing is actually shown, just implied. Even those who do have sex, both hetero and homo, do it with their clothes on!
CGI replaces the usual model plane on strings of yore, but oddly the plane's eventual dramatic crash landing happens OFF screen also! (Is Almodovar teasing us with both nudity and action that then happen unseen?)
Of course the film has also been read as a comment on Spain's current economic woes (it is one of the European countries facing virtual bankruptcy) with the "Peninsula" flight referring to the Iberian Peninsula itself, and to some extent it may be, though it is hard to see exactly what Almodovar is trying to say. This is no "Ship of Fools" or "Exterminating Angel", but something frothier, and that is what perhaps has angered critics so.
As a comedy it is OK, and in the general tradition of Spanish-Latin- Mediterranean comedies, and harks back to his early zany anarchic surreal works. Those however belonged to a certain period (sudden post-Franco regime abandon) and to a younger, fresher director, and so the same effects do not occur this time. Also some might find the heavy accent on Homosexual passion and romantic intrigue alienating, while many Homosexuals will be put off by the old fashioned camp Queen stereotypes. However if you are open minded and don't mind a loving fan's take on Hollywood disaster movies with a pink cabaret running through the middle of it, then this is 98 minutes you may enjoy. Just don't expect anything too deep.
Lambasted by critics, this is a sort of return to comic roots for Almodovar after a run of serious introspective dramas, rather as Woody Allen did in the mid Nineties. Like a lot of his work, it owes a conscious homage to the classics of Hollywood, in this case the old portmanteau disaster movies, ("Airport" and sequels for example) where a cross section of troubled souls with their own personal stories and secrets would slowly gel as a group as they faced sudden death from various unexpected calamities. The calamity here is that a "Peninsula" airlines flight from Madrid to Mexico cannot land because the wheels have been accidentally wrecked by Cameo-ing ex- Almodovaristas Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas (as married baggage handlers).
The passengers include the usual shady lot, the banker running away from a financial scandal that will send him to prison, as well as an estranged daughter he has not spoken to in years, the handsome mysterious stranger with a dark secret, the glamorous middle aged celebrity "madam" with a secret stash of incriminating films of major world VIPs that make her fear for her life, the timid psychic who's gift has also condemned her to a lifetime of virginity, and the playboy actor running out on another younger lover who comes to realise the importance of love. There are also a couple of young honeymooners that have little real input into things.
The crew are equally cliché, except that the usual romantic complications (pilot having on-off relationship with stewardess, married pilot considering straying, etc) are all of a homosexual nature and are happen between men (there is a team of female stewardesses, but they, like the economy class passengers, are drugged to avoid panic!) The two main pilots are a butch pair, but the three male stewards are all screaming Gay Queens who bitch and moan and call each other by girl's names and even try to lighten the tension with a musical number (the one in all the trailers). Gay characters were always present in Almodovar's work, both comic and serious, but these guys might come across as offensive stereotypes of the kind a lot of Gay people don't like.
Like many disaster movies, it is set in a confined space, and is almost like a filmed play. The only interlude is when the actor tries to call his emotionally disturbed lover (Paz Vega in another cameo) in Madrid, but through the usual twist of almost supernatural fate, ends up speaking to another former lover, and rekindling their relationship over the phone.
The film plays out both as homage to Hollywood disaster films with passages of straight drama (Usually accompanied by generic old time dramatic music) interspersed with Gay comedy. There are several sex scenes, but nothing is actually shown, just implied. Even those who do have sex, both hetero and homo, do it with their clothes on!
CGI replaces the usual model plane on strings of yore, but oddly the plane's eventual dramatic crash landing happens OFF screen also! (Is Almodovar teasing us with both nudity and action that then happen unseen?)
Of course the film has also been read as a comment on Spain's current economic woes (it is one of the European countries facing virtual bankruptcy) with the "Peninsula" flight referring to the Iberian Peninsula itself, and to some extent it may be, though it is hard to see exactly what Almodovar is trying to say. This is no "Ship of Fools" or "Exterminating Angel", but something frothier, and that is what perhaps has angered critics so.
As a comedy it is OK, and in the general tradition of Spanish-Latin- Mediterranean comedies, and harks back to his early zany anarchic surreal works. Those however belonged to a certain period (sudden post-Franco regime abandon) and to a younger, fresher director, and so the same effects do not occur this time. Also some might find the heavy accent on Homosexual passion and romantic intrigue alienating, while many Homosexuals will be put off by the old fashioned camp Queen stereotypes. However if you are open minded and don't mind a loving fan's take on Hollywood disaster movies with a pink cabaret running through the middle of it, then this is 98 minutes you may enjoy. Just don't expect anything too deep.