dromasca Watching any film by Pedro Almodóvar is an enriching experience, an experience that teaches the viewers some new things about cinema and some new things about life. Live Flesh ("Carne tremula" in Spanish) is not exception. It is a film about passion and desire, it is a melodrama that makes more sense than life itself, it presents five characters whom we get to know by the end of the film better than our own family.The story has one prologue, one first chapter taking place twenty years later, more chapters in the contemporaneity (meaning 1997) and a prologue a few months later. A young woman (only appearance in this movie as a live person by Penélope Cruz) gives birth, it's the sleepy Madrid at the end of the Franco era, still a policy state, still hard to catch a taxi even if the streets at night are empty, so the birth takes place in a semi-hijacked bus. Twenty years later in bustling democratic Madrid two cops are called to a place where a young 20 years old pizza delivery boy (yes, that boy) has an altercation with a beautiful young prostitute. Shots are being fired, and one of the policemen is hurt and becomes crippled, not before drawing the attention of the young woman. A few years later the boy gets out of jail and plans to revenge the policeman who stole his youth. His revenge involves not only the woman but also the wife of the other cop. We are in full Almodovar melodrama, everybody is in love or makes sex with everybody else, it's not a romantic triangle but a love and passion pentagon. All funny and sexy, violent and endearingThe songs of Chavela Valdez inspired part of the story and the approach of Almodóvar. As in many other of his films he makes no moral judgment about the actions of his characters, but we feel that he cares about them all, and would like to make us care too. Although it's a mix of comedy and melodrama 'Live Flesh' never goes where we expect, because the director and story teller does not run away from mixing the beautiful and tend with the ugly and cruel aspects of life. Javier Bardem performs here in one of the best roles of his early career, and the rest of the team including Liberto Rabal, Francesca Neri, and Ángela Molina define each their characters, each of them with his or her own passion and aspiration to love. Although it is hazard that seems to trigger many of the events, the ending provides a fulfilling sensation. The divinity (I mean, of course, the film director) takes care of everything.

bob the moo Having had sex with Elena the week before, Victor returns to her flat to try and see her again. However Elena was high when it happened and has no memory of it and no interest in refreshing her memory, but when Victor refuses to leave they start to fight and Elena pulls a gun, which goes off when Victor knocks it away. The police are called and David and his bitter, drunkard partner Sancho respond. A struggle ensues after a brief standoff and while Victor and Sancho wrestle on the floor, the gun goes off and David is hit. Four years later Victor is released from prison, David is in a wheelchair and has married a clean Elena while Sancho is still trying to keep his relationship with wife Carla together. Victor's release brings these individuals back into contact and unleashes the emotions of that night again.Having just watched Volver and found it to be slightly below the standards of many of Almodóvar's other films, I decide to revisit Live Flesh. Aside from the opening cliché, this film is mostly free of his comic backdrops and the touches of absurd melodrama that often accompany some of his more exaggerated characters (this isn't a criticism so much as an observation). Here the film moves quickly from Victor's birth into the fateful event that sees him jailed and we find ourselves in a serious story that is well delivered. That the narrative is unpredictable and perhaps a tad unlikely is testimony to the realism in the characters because their emotions and motivations within this mix of guilt, hate and regret are contradictory and complex – just as they would be in real life. But yet somehow Almodóvar holds it together and makes it engaging and, amazingly, convincing. I want to talk about how he turns this story into a tale I believed in but somehow he does; perhaps because he keeps it so raw and intense throughout, infecting even the sex with the emotions that exist within each character so that even those acts are borne of so much more than desire.Almodóvar also draws impressive performances from his cast which is a great help in pulling off the intensity of the tale. Cruz will be the name everyone knows but she only has a tiny role to play. It is hard to pick one stand out performance from Bardem, Neri and Rabal because the three of them are so convincing and seem to have totally engaged with their parts despite some of the actions being hard to accept on paper. Molina and Sancho are both good but their material is on the edge of the film and they aren't given the same opportunity to explore.Overall this is an impressive film that is raw and intense to the point that it compensates for the stretches within the plot. I can see why some viewers dislike it because it does take some swallowing but it is the impassioned and convincing delivery from director and actors that makes it as engaging as it is.

Didier (Didier-Becu) Pedro Aldomovar is seen as a real genius and personally I think that one film is better than the other but this movie from 1997 certainly belong to the best the Spanish infant terrible has made. In 1970 a woman bears a child in a bus and it's that boy, Victor (Liberto Rabal), who we are going to follow. Victor is an ordinary guy but due to circumstances his whole life will be twisted up as he's the victim from two policemen who are arguing. Like so many other movies by Aldomovar it would be a real spoiler to reveal things as the magic of the movie is to be found in its surprising storytelling that at first doesn't make that much sense but develops itself into a perfect, surprising story. Aldomovar is becoming the master of telling the little things in life and it's in that we can found so much beauty. Also nice to see Penelope Cruz as special guest star, even if she's in it for about 5 minutes. "Live Flesh" certainly is one of Aldomovar's easier movies as for once he gives all the answer even if you have to wait till the end of the movie. A tip!

jpschapira Pedro Almodóvar changed the way of making cinema in Spain; and doing it, he has impressed movie watchers around the world. You have seen his movies; they are a mix of cruelty that includes honesty and passion. Not honesty in Almodovar's characters, but in the way they are written, showing a tough reality. About passion, well, it occupies a place in every person, but is not always shown; Almodóvar takes care of that.He introduces you to the characters in the story, then he starts to develop a plot that you're going to see, even if it is predictable. Víctor (Liberto Rabal) has lost, or not, his virginity with one woman (older than him). He's not an expert when it comes to casual sex, but she wants to see this woman again, and doesn't understand why she acts like she didn't care what happened. The thing is he doesn't know she does it every week. Then we see David (Javier Bardem) and Sancho (José Sancho) working in their car. They are cops. David is honest and professional, Sancho is alcoholic and incontrollable; his wife, Clara (Ángela Molina), cheats him with another man. Sancho loves her, but beats her and keeps her locked in the house. The one who connects them all is Elena. Víctor fights with her, the police arrives, someone is shot and we see a frame that shows the movie some years later. The person who was shot is David, who walks (well, he doesn't walk) in a wheel-chair. David saved Elena's life; they're married. Víctor is getting out of jail; he shot David. Sancho is in the same situation with his wife. Now Víctor is angry, and plans his revenge; eventually he meets Clara, and follows Elena, and everything is connected again, until the end. Javier Bardem is excellent as David. He can cry while he talks and convince you that he is suffering. He is the finest Spanish actor, and it was wonderful to see him fighting against his character's decisions to do the things he has to. Francesca Neri didn't seem Spanish while I was watching the film. She isn't, but she has the looks of a "femme fatally", and that was perfect for her role, which connected everything and had the strongest lines. José Sancho gives a good support as Sancho, reaching the extremes with his face. His character is doomed, because what happens to him now is not going to stop, and the worst part is that he knows it. Ángela Molina doesn't have the chance to shine, but still does a decent work, with what she has got. She can't be having sex with one only man, and she shows it. Liberto Rabal doesn't show much acting talent, he's not the mos experienced in the cast, but somehow, when he talks, he seems not right, but perfect, for his role. Listen to him at the end and you'll see. Almovodar is gifted and he proves it in each frame of this tale. You need to look at every part of the shot to see the details he is giving to the piece. Look at the sexual scenes; the balance he achieves: it's not so strong, but not soft either. It's subtle. His way of directing the actors is amazing. He writes the movie, and knows it more than anyone, so you know he is there to tell the cast what to do, and help them obtain their amazing performances. It's a visual style with life of its own. I said it. There's cruelty and honesty at the same time. There's passion. There's betrayal, lies, sex. You see it in the characters, in their words. When David arrives home and sees his wife Elena in bed, and starts to touch her; she doesn't like it. "What's the matter?", he asks. "It hurts", Elena answers. "Why?", he says. And with a face that involves everything I'm talking about, she looks at him: "Because I've been having sex all night"