Pain and Glory

While still embracing the visual facades that make his films such a pleasure to watch, Pain and Glory finds him stripping away the emotional facades, bringing us closer to him than ever before.

There is jubilation and wonder to be found in these remembrances, moments of pure bliss that are beyond imagining.

Almodóvar shows us that, even after nearly two dozen features over several decades, he can still hold an audience in his hand - and surprise it.

A masterful, melancholy, tender, lacerating self-examination, filled with colour and light and the ghosts of those he has loved. Almodovar at 70, and perhaps astonishing to himself, continues to grow.

For all those cinemagoers who have been enthralled by Almodovar's work over the years this very personal movie, with its superbly pitched central performance by Banderas, will be immensely rewarding.

Antonio Banderas is riveting in Pedro Almodóvar's pensive, nostalgic, and contemplative Pain and Glory.

Many meta films can be so insightful to a creator’s life, but this might be one of the most beautiful films in the sub-genre.

Pain and Glory, oscillates between constant antagonisms that cross the protagonist's feelings and function dialectically: Eros and Thanatos. The entire story expose the view of Salvador (Almodóvar's alter-ego) about his past.

In addition to the stellar performances and sumptuous cinematography, Pain and Glory is a compassionate and realistic portrait of the bittersweet realities inseparable from a life near completion.

The number one movie of the year was undoubtedly the magnificent Pain and Glory (Dolor y Gloria).