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Critics Consensus: Live Flesh surveys the fallout from an act of violence with a mature melodrama that sees Pedro Almodóvar working in surprisingly restrained form.
Critic Consensus: Live Flesh surveys the fallout from an act of violence with a mature melodrama that sees Pedro Almodóvar working in surprisingly restrained form.
All Critics (41) | Top Critics (12) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (8) | DVD (4)
A single ricochet gunshot propels the plot and dramatically alters the lives of the quintet. The result is a vengeful, five-way battle of wits.
The overall purpose of Live Flesh, the latest and reputedly most 'mature' work from Spanish bad-boy director Pedro Almodovar, remains engigmatic.
Almodovar, whose work here has newly sophisticated polish, appreciates the dark twists of this story along with the eroticism that bring heat to all the scheming.
Like the gorgeous cinematography (which is used to good effect to eroticize a sex scene), this is all part of Almodovar's stylistic package. Never has it been more impressive than here, where everything (not just the flesh) is vibrant with life.
I can only conclude that the people who think Flower and Live Flesh represent the new, mature Almodóvar think that his earlier pictures were immature.
Almodovar seems more assured here, confident that he can interest us without overt winking and tomfoolery.
[VIDEO ESSAY] Behind its soap opera appearance, Almodovar makes pointed political statements that bruise.
The film also feels curiously underpopulated, unenlivened by any sparky character bits.
Very much an Almodovar picture with most of the anticipated outrageous occurrences intact.
Pedro Almodovar has done something nearly unheard of: he has made a wheelchair movie without maudlin sentiment and overbearing importance. Even better, it's actually rather enjoyable.
Another offbeat Almodovar treat - with another compelling Bardem performance.
It is a pleasure to see such a tight work from Amaldovar.
Javier Bardem, and Liberto Rabal, are easy on the eyes and make the movie worth watching. It's a mildly interesting story, somewhat predictable, and with its fair share of slow moments. And as is so often the case in Almodovar movies, the intense connection between characters is shown through melodrama...not character development. If you are a fan of Almodovar, you will enjoy this. I, apparently, am not really a fan. I don't think that I have really liked any of his movies too much.
Super Reviewer
Life, love, desire...and everything in between.
I've only seen three other Almodovar movies and they all impressed me immensely, but Live Flesh is sort of a dud. The last thing I would call this, contrary to its Flixster page, is "restrained"; those telenovela moments that Almodovar is so good at concocting are pretty much the only thing keeping this movie alive. There are plenty of hysterical dramatic highlights, like a birth on a bus, an unhappy lover bombarding her husband with hairspray, a shootout in an apartment, and a terrifically bloody climax. The rest of the movie is inert and dramatically unchallenging, trying to bill itself as subdued, but let's call a spade a spade here. This is a prototype for Almodovar's later formula - a fusion of campy melodrama and quiet human introspection - but despite some strong ideas, this overarching story isn't strong enough to sustain said formula. It's too simple and sort of random; none of the characters seem to behave with much thought. I dunno, I'm not too coherent about this one but I really didn't care for it. Maybe it's me.
The more I see of Bardem, the more I like him. Given that my first notice of him came via No Country for Old Men -- which you must see for his performance in that one -- I grow more and more to appreciate what an amazing range he has. This film too, like In Bruges, is a kind of fairy tale, albeit not one you would read to your kiddies at bedtime. A great cast brings a very intricate story of love, revenge, and redemption to beautiful fruition, and I'm getting to appreciate Penélope Cruz more and more in all kinds of ways : ) Oh yeah, baby!
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