Bad Education

[MacGuffin]

Trailer (in Spanish with French subtitles)

Release Date: TBA 2004 (platform limited release)

Cast: Gael Garcia Bernal (Szara), Fele Martinez, Leonor Watling, Francisco Boira, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Javier Camara, Alberto Ferreiro, Lluis Homar (Padre Manolo), Francisco Maestre, Petra Martinez

Screenwriter/Director: Pedro Almodovar (Talk to Her, All About My Mother, Live Flesh, The Flower of My Secret, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown)

Based Upon: This film is reportedly loosely based upon director Pedro Almodovar's own experiences as a child.

Premise: This is the story of two men, one of whom is a film director, in Spain who meet again in the 1980s, 20 years after they attended a Catholic school together as children during the time of Franco's rule in the 1960s. The film will flash back to extended sequences from their youths (in addition to sequences in between, in the 1970s), and will also include a movie-within-the-movie sequence.

[ElPandaRoyal]

And aren't we all looking forward to this?  

This was set to open on April 29th here in Portugal (same day as Kill Bill: Vol. 2) but was pushed back to May... Damn! I really think this movie will blow my mind.

[El Duderino]

after seeing talk to her, i'll see anything pedro, whether it's good or bad.....but it will most likely be great.

[Weak2ndAct]

Damn that Pedro, that guy's getting better and better with every film he makes.  I'm sure minds will be blown w/ Bad Education.

[Pedro]

is there going to be crossdressing involved?

[bonanzataz]

is there going to be crossdressing involved?

i just finished a movie within a movie that has crossdressing in it!

i'm also a big almodovar fan!

i'm also a no talent hack!

[Mavis]

Ok, I crossdress.

This was the best time to come out and say it.

I'm comfortable with my sexuality, ok guys? I say "guys" because 99.99% of this board is guys.

So are we cool, guys? I crossdress. Happy? I said it. It's all out in the open.

What do you want to know next? That I crossdress?? I already let that cat outta the bag, gentlemen. That would be redundant.

Ok I'm going to go cry now. Sleep tight. Hope you boys sleep better tonight knowing I'm a crossdresser.

Oh and another thing. Lay off the peer pressure, guys. It's not nice to push me around, ok?

Geez Louise (Ok, that's my crossdressing name too! Louise!! HAPPY NOW!!??!!!!!!!!).

[Stefen]

Rawrrrr, feeling hot hot hot.

But seriously, I am really excited about this movie. I am more excited about this movie than anything else. This is nice.

[MacGuffin]

Almodovar pic yanked in distributor flap

MADRID -- Preeminent Spanish exhibber Enrique Gonzalez Macho has announced that he'll pull all Warner Bros. pics from his cinemas.

Effective from today, the move comes after Madrid's Cinesa Proyecciones hardtop began screening Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education" on March 26 -- eight days after it opened at Macho's Roxy B, which lies straight across the street.

Macho claims he hadn't been notified of the competition.

Movies which suffer from the boycott include "Education," which was unspooling at 12 Macho hardtops, "Mystic River," "Something's Gotta Give" and "Taking Lives." WB was taken aback by the move.

Macho "will be offered every single movie we have. He's one of our favorite exhibitors," Enrique Posner, deputy general manager of Warner Sogefilms, told Daily Variety.

Sources as Macho's distribution-exhibition house Alta Films said they didn't know when the spat would be resolved. WB has been moving to find new theater slots for its Macho-handled prints. The WB-Macho tiff may well prove to be a storm in a teacup -- passions wax and wane dramatically in Spain.

But it comes at a significant time: just two weeks after Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialists surprisingly won Spain's March 14 general elections.

In foreign policy, Zapatero has already distanced himself from the U.S. declaring he'll withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.

As Zapatero readies a government, Macho has served to widen the media debate about future state film policy from production to U.S. studios' allegedly abusive practices in distribution and exhibition. More skirmishes between the local industry and U.S. distribbers expected to follow.

[MacGuffin]

Almodovar, Cannes get ready for 'Bad Education'

Pedro Almodovar is unique in the international market. A film by the Spanish director is clearly identifiable by the layered meaning, kitschy scenes and bright colors. Even he can get lost in the multiple labyrinths of his scripts, he recently confessed. But Almodovar's films have set new highs for international filmmakers. He's back this year at Cannes, the festival that loves him. But this time, he's not competing. The Hollywood Reporter's Spain bureau chief Pamela Rolfe caught up with Almodovar in the frantic days before the festival to talk about the Catholic Church, wardrobe and his latest film, "Bad Education."

The Hollywood Reporter: You have said this is a film about forbidden love. But people are also talking about child molestation and the abuses by the priests and the church.
Pedro Almodovar: I think the film makes itself very clear and puts everything in its place. People have talked a lot -- and maybe I have too by using the title "Bad Education," which refers to that part of the film -- about where I narrate the boys' lives at school with the priests. But that is one unit within six or seven more in the film. I think people that see the film know what I mean with the title. And I think the film doesn't even go against the church. What's more, I'd even say the opposite. I don't treat the priests poorly. I like lots of the characters in the film, but if I had to choose one, it would probably be that of the priest who falls madly in love and deposits his life in the hands of an adolescent. I don't mistreat the priests. You can see desire and faith mixed with shame. But that doesn't impede him from doing what he wants to do and abusing his power. In the end, he's a man who's in love with something that is forbidden. I'm agnostic; I don't believe in God. I didn't have that luck. But when I was little, I really enjoyed the religious ceremonies, and that is also visible in the film.

THR: How does inaugurating the Festival de Cannes help the distribution of the film?
Almodovar: The French are pulling all the stops. They're dedicating limitless attention. In addition to the inauguration, they're preparing an authentic top-notch celebration of my cinema. The newsstands in France are filled to the brim with me or the actors talking about the film. There are 1,000 trailers around the country in preparation for the opening. There's tremendous expectation in France, according to the distributors. In England, it will be released a week later. Cannes is an incredible platform

THR: Do you have a date for the United States?
Almodovar: In the U.S., it will be in November. It will follow the same trajectory as ("All About My Mother"), which went to Cannes In Competition. Then it was released throughout Europe. And then, conveniently, the Americans reap the fruits of everywhere else.

THR: A few years ago, you were at Cannes In Competition, with a lot of attention. This time, you're not In Competition, and you don't have the same nervousness. Which do you prefer?
Almodovar: I'm never going to have a low profile. I've spent the last two weeks worrying about my wardrobe. You have no idea what it's like for a fiftysomething director who Prada, Dior and Gucci want to dress, and they send you two or three tuxedos and they don't quite fit. I don't know what I'm going to wear. But I'm not going there to keep a low profile. I guess you're referring to competing, but I'm going to compete with everyone. We're all in the same market, but of course, I'm not competing for the Gold Palm. I feel much more comfortable. It was I who said I didn't want to compete. It always has struck me as horrible that you have to go against films that you love. This way, I can be fabulous with everyone.

THR: You do have a film In Competition, though, in a way.
Almodovar: We do have an Argentine co-production, "La Nina Santa," and I suggest you go see it. I really like it a lot.

THR: There have been more Latin American films in Cannes and in Spain in the last couple of years. Why do you think that is?
Almodovar: We chose Lucrecia (Martel)'s film ("Santa") because I really liked the script, and I loved her first film ("La Cienaga"). And there's something very natural in co-producing with Latin America because we have the same language. We also produce Spanish directors. What I want to say with that is that we move based on the interest stimulated by the script in Spanish. Argentine cinema is experiencing a splendid period, especially given the horrible economic crisis the country is undergoing. It's absolutely true that it's producing better cinema than 10 years ago. It's amazing given the social and economic crisis. But it's like the agriculture: Some decades are good harvests, and some are bad. And Argentine cinema is having a very good harvest.

THR: How do you feel being the first Spaniard to open the Festival de Cannes, and does it say anything about the Spanish film industry as a whole that you are inaugurating Cannes?
Almodovar: For me on a personal level and from the point of view as a producer, it means a lot, and it's the best privilege we could have in France. As far as Spanish cinema, I would say exactly the same. This is a Spanish film. It's the first time a Spanish film opens. I want to include the Spanish industry in this honor and this celebration because it's Spanish cinema that I'm opening with. It's our language and our cinema. Yes, it's done according to my point of view, but it's Spanish.

[ElPandaRoyal]

It's not as good as his previous three masterpieces, but that would be really hard to be. La Mala Educación is a film so well shot and edited and scored and acted. And the credit sequence kicks butt in a way I don't remember a credit sequence doing so. It's not a trully amazing film (although I think it'll get better with subsequent views) but it's really damn great to look at and to feel. The problem here is maybe the script, which although is quite complex and interesting to follow, it just gets a little boring and out of place on the final act. All in all, it reminded me of Road To Perdition in a way that it fullfilled everything I expected when leaving the theater except for one little part of me that somewhat wanted a bit more.

[modage]

Mark your calendars.  According to the new Premiere, Bad Education will be released November 19th.

[Vile5]

Well i saw it last week in a Film Festival here in Lima
The movie is interesting, the way how Almodovar plays with time is very well done, but i must admit that i expected for something more  
despite the disappointment performances are excellent particularly Fele Martinez...

[Ghostboy]

I saw it today, and while it is as entertaining as any Almodovar film could be, it doesn't have the same empathetic qualities of his last few films. I find it rather funny that this is so personal a film to him -- while most directors pour their hearts out on their sleeves, he's taken something intimate and turned it into, well, into film noir as only Almodovar could do it. It's all great until the last act, which either ends too soon or takes a wrong turn, or both.

Whenever it opens, don't miss it, but don't expect another award winner...

As mentioned above, the titles are awesome enough to warrant a mention, and the score is phenomenal.

[cron]

This was fantastic.  
I'm glad there are filmmakers doing homosexual love scenes without a singleweight of guilt and commitment like this Almodovar gentleman  does. He's doing what he thinks he's right, and rarely do you see an artist projecting all his passions in the way he does.  The critique to  the catholic church is  , in  JB's words, so deliciously irreverent.

The credits are ace.


DAMMIT:

rarely do you see an artist projecting all his passions in the way he does.

maybe that's because there aren't many Pedro Almodovar's in the world.