We are what we are, because of choices we made and people we met. Our past defines who we are today. Can we change if we think we go a direction that isn't a "good" one? Maybe we can - but that is not the major revelation or plot that you get served here.

Here you get a director, who seems to have lost his ... muse and sense and so many other things. Not his will to live of course ... no matter what he does or what he puts in his body, nothing implicates he has lost that will. Quite the opposite can be seen (subtly I'd say) in an interaction he has while buying drugs at a know place apparently.

He has regrets, he has sorrows and he still has a lot of things in him that want to get out (one way or another). Played fantastically by Antonio Banderas - you almost forget how he is in real life, so mellow, so convincing is his performance! Well done and another collaboration with Almodovar and him that shows they are a great pairing. Certain things may offend you no matter the rating - drug use, homosexuality and so forth. But those are part of life ... maybe not yours or mine ... but they are there - they exist. For this character more than for others.

Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar jumps back and forth in time to examine the life of his protagonist. In modern day, Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas) is a celebrated filmmaker whose best works are decades old, and is living with drug addiction and medical issues. As a child, he has his loving mother Jacinta (Penélope Cruz). They move into a cave home where he teaches beautiful illiterate bricklayer Eduardo how to read.

It's territories that Pedro had traveled over the years. It's a little flat for the first part. Quite frankly, it's only when the kid is with the bricklayer that I had the first chuckle. That seems to be the most compelling part of the story. The movie should be more about the childhood Pedro and give more time with Eduardo. His mother should be given more. The adult Pedro can be cut back. There are some fascinating scenes. The story is average semi-autobiographical. It feels familiar and offers little new. Pedro's fans should appreciate this work.

"Dolor y gloria" or "Pain and Glory" is a new Spanish Spanish-language movie that already reached a fairly impressive amount of awards recognition looking at how it has barely been released. What is key here is of course that the writer and director of these 110 minutes is Pedro Almodóvar, who has been in the industry for a long time as he is about to have his 70th birthday pretty much one month from now. And he has come up with many quality movies in his long career and this is just another worthy addition. There is some comedic stuff in his body of work, but at the core of it all it is more about the drama, at least when it comes to those movies that he will be remembered for the most. So no surprise this one here is basically also a full-on drama. Maybe the one scene with the main character and his friend not going to a film presentation, but instead communicating with the audience via phone is a bit on the funny side, but that is really it. In terms of drama, it has everything though, potentially deadly diseases, meeting long-lost loves, drug addiction, taking a step into one's own past and childhood struggles about making ends meet. In the middle of it all is once again for an Almodóvar film Antonio Banderas who plays the main character. Now I don't really care about people saying he basically plays Almodóvar himself in this film, but the one thing that cannot be denied is how good he is really. I have never been a huge Banderas fan and the thing I remember him most for is probably Puss in Boots, which says it all. But briefly before his 60th birthday, he gives a true powerhouse performance and I am not too surprised he won the Palme d'Or for his turn here, even if given the foreign status of the film, I have some doubts he can get in at the Oscars for his portrayal. But it's certainly not impossible for him to score his first Oscar nomination finally, but winning I just don't see it happen despite how big of a name he has that probably also helped him in Cannes. Aside from that, Almodóvar certainly has chances when it comes to the screenplay and also direction to get another Oscar nomination. And if Spain picks this movie to represent it for the foreign language film category (or whatever it is called now),it is a definite contender for the win.

Okay, now as for the film itself, it basically lives through Banderas' portrayal and Almodóvar's vision. Banderas may not have the most dialogues all in all, but he does so much with his eyes and physically too that it is just mesmerizing to watch in general. As for Pedro, it is his usual approach. The one thing I would like to mention is the use of colors in his films that always strikes me again with how he combines red full of life with the kind of blue you may find at swimming pools. It is pretty unique, certainly his style also when it comes to set direction is impossible to ignore. It's typical Almodóvar and it's really good this way. What surprises me a bit is that this film also won for Sountrack at Cannes. Now the music isn't bad or anything and Iglesias (not Enrique) is an experienced score producer, but it did not strike me as too outstanding or awards-worthy. Equally surprised I am that it did not win the queer Palme at Cannes, but was "only" nominated. I guess the gay references were not enough in quantity. Okay let me think, what else can I say? Oh yeah, about the Penélope Cruz parts, that was an interesting plot twist at the end how they showed it that it was not flashbacks to his youth, but actually him making the movie about his youth and the boy just like Cruz are just actors and not his and his mother's younger selves. But it makes sense because why would they include scenes with his mother after they already dealt with her death and the regret he has about where she died. It would have been a strange inclusion time-wise, even if the film is obviously not 100% chronological, but the way they did it also with the microphone holder or whatever she is at the end felt really surprising and for a second you had no idea what was going on before Almodóvar lets us in and does so in the most magnificent manner. There are many memorable scenes in this movie. I think it is definitely worth checking out. I would not say it is my favorite Almodóvar work, but that is just because he has done greater stuff like "Broken Embraces" and not because this film here is weak, underwhelming or anything. At its best, it is a great film, overall it is a good film that profits a lot from its highly convincing lead performance. Thumbs up. Go watch.