Film
Following 2002's masterful Talk To Her, Bad Education represents another convincing stage in the development of Pedro Almodóvar's directorial abilities; it is certainly a more mature film than many of his earlier efforts. This is not to say that he hasn't kept in plenty of his favourite themes: a convoluted plot, hinging on shifting identities and relationships, transgressive sexuality, and of course men in drag.
Here, however, he ventures into perhaps his darkest territory yet, taking on the hugely sensitive subject of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. But contrary to what might be expected, the film is not a scathing attack on an establishment unable to admit its guilt. Instead Almodóvar weaves a subtle, elusive, moving, and at times disturbing reflection on the nature of desire, the impossibility of governing it, and our need to create roles for ourselves.
Gael García Bernal, who shot to fame in Amores Perros, is at the heart of the film, switching deftly between different roles and identities. Unusually for Almodóvar, in Bad Education women are a conspicuous absence; it is Bernal himself who fulfils the role of the object of desire. There is also, of course, the more dangerous question of sexual desire for children. Almodóvar has been accused of treating the abusing priest in this film too sympathetically, yet several of the school scenes retain a palpable sense of terror. Perhaps influenced by Alejandro González Iñárritu's Oscar nominated 21 Grams, Almodóvar plays with time and perception, as memory, fiction and reality intersect and blur before sliding back into focus through a series of revelations.
Although the results are occasionally confusing, the film never risks becoming tedious: its slightly labyrinthine plot resists summing up in a few phrases, but essentially it revolves around two men who meet again for the first time since they were at school together, aged eleven, where they fell in love, and their plan to wreak vengeance upon the priest who sexually abused one of them. The first, Enrique, is a film director, and the second, Ignacio, is an actor, and turns out to be a better one than he at first seems.
Of course, Bad Education is just the latest in a long line of films to borrow the motif of the film-within-a-film, and to experiment with the cinematic presentation of memory, but it does so in a far more involving way than most, as character development and plot interest do not become subsidiary.
The end of Bad Education hints at the presence of the director himself. It may be this personal resonance that has allowed Almodóvar to shatter the brittle facade of his earlier films' farcical humour and reach a more profound, and more unsettling, level of expression.
Another year, another two weeks in the sun at Cannes, as Hollywood's glitterati rubbed shoulders with some of the most exciting and innovative talents of world cinema.
This year's jury was headed by none other than Quentin Tarantino, with the coveted Palme d'Or going to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, an incendiary exposé of the links between the Bush and Bin Laden clans. The film has already provoked a storm of controversy after Buena Vista, who bizarrely financed the project, refused to distribute it in America.
The remaining awards reflected the current upsurge in Asian cinema, with the Grand Prix going to Korean Park Chan-Wook for Oldboy, a dark tale of vengeance (sounds familiar, Quentin?)
In the acting stakes, Maggie Cheung was honoured for her role as a junkie in Clean, and Yuuya Yagira, a 14-year-old Japanese actor, was chosen for his part in Nobody Knows, a Japanese film following the lives of four orphaned siblings.
The Jury Prize went to the first Thai film to be shown in competition at Cannes, Tropical Malady. Elsewhere, biopics were the year's hottest trend, with Walter Salles' The Motorcycle Diaries, starring Mexican man of the moment Gael Garcia Bernal in an exploration of Che Guevara's youth, Charlize Theron as Britt Ekland in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, and Kevin Kline in the nauseatingly titled De-Lovely, which tells the story of Cole Porter's life, complete with cameos from the likes of Robbie Williams and Alanis Morissette; an enticing prospect.
Derided by some as little more than a media circus, the festival, however commercialised it may have become, still provides an indication of what we'll be watching over the year to come.
Festivals like Cannes should foster and reward creativity throughout the world, and to their credit, the organisers have broadened the festival's scope considerably over the past few years. They've been savvy enough to realise that appropriating Hollywood's glitz will ultimately bring the films that really matter to a bigger audience.
Perhaps they should have drawn the line at Robbie Williams though.
The majority of films follow a simple formula: excitement + amusement = entertainment. This one doesn't. The first foreign film to be shot in Kabul following the demise of the Taliban, At Five In The Afternoon is stringently realistic and utterly pessimistic. Expectations of the sort of 'triumph of the human spirit' conclusions usually drawn from films about people facing unbearable hardships fail to materialise.
The story focuses on a young Afghan girl, Nogreh, who has a desire for a modern education and dreams of becoming President of the Republic. Her optimism and hope is juxtaposed to the ruins of a desolate country. As she struggles to maintain a daily existence with the remnants of her family, including her aged fundamentalist father-in-law, the harsh realities of present Afghanistan gradually erode her belief in herself and the future. Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf uses the film as a vehicle for exploring the progress of women in Afghanistan and the state of life for all Afghans post-Taliban.
Having won the special jury prize at Cannes 2003, much acclaim has been placed on the film's treatment of its significant contemporary concerns.
However this kind of 'issue' film that seeks to inform about real life and draw astute cultural observations is perhaps more appropriately dealt with within the medium of documentary filmmaking. The dramatisation of this subject matter is upsetting and full of emotional impact, but devoid of the guided constructiveness that films like Bowling for Columbine demonstrate. If there is a message here it's certainly not positive, leaving us with little more than a blow to Western apathy.
This is a film to be endured not enjoyed.
DVD of the week
american splendour
Paul Giamatti shambles his way through this semi-animated biopic of the nerdish Harvey Pekar who based a cult comic strip on his life. Manages to avoid clichéd caricatures, unlike many films of its genre.
TV Film of the week
silence of the lambs
A steely Jodie Foster keeps her cool, as Anthony Hopkins gets his teeth in to the role and a few people's faces.
ITV, Saturday, 10:05pm
Turkey of the week
the colour of money
Paul Newman reprises the iconic role of 'Fast Eddie' Felson made famous by The Hustler. Tom Cruise plays his bolshy prodigy - sparks will fly.
ITV, Tuesday, 11.05pm
27th May 2004