Quote:
Though the kinky characters and aberrant social behavior common to the works of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar are very evident in his Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, the film is at heart a door-slamming farce in the grand tradition. The tiny apartment of pregnant actress Carmen Maura is the “Grand Central Station” setpiece for this dizzying tale. Distraught over her recent breakup with her lover, Carmen prepares to overdose on sleeping pills, which she blends into a gazpacho so they’ll go down easier. She is diverted from her suicide by her best friend Maria Barranco, a fugitive from justice (her boy friend is a Shi’Ite terrorist) who needs a place to stay. Later, when Carmen’s apartment is empty, her ex-lover’s grown son (Antonio Banderas) comes to the apartment with his fiance (Rossy de Palma) in answer to Carmen’s “room to let” newspaper ad. The wife inadvertently ingests Carmen’s “pill sauce,” and as she blissfully snoozes, the husband inaugurates an affair with Carmen’s friend Barranco.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spanish: Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios) is a 1988 Spanish comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Carmen Maura and Antonio Banderas. The film that brought Almodóvar to widespread international attention, it was nominated for the 1989 Academy Award for Best Foreign-language film, and won five Goya Awards including Best Film and Best Actress in a Leading Role for Maura. The actual title refers in Spanish to “un ataque de nervios” which is not actually well translated by “nervous breakdown”. “Ataques de nervios” are culture-bound psychological phenomena during which the individual, most often female, displays dramatic outpouring of negative emotions, bodily gestures, occasional falling to the ground, and fainting, often in response to receiving disturbing news or witnessing or participating in an upsetting event.

Women.on.the.Verge.of.a.Nervous.Breakdown.1988.576p.BluRay.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

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Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	1h 29mn
Size:	2.14 GiB
DXVA:	Compatible
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https://nitro.download/view/A0B22A28C5C39F0/Women.on.the.Verge.of.a.Nervous.Breakdown.1988.576p.BluRay.x264-HANDJOB.mkv

Language(s):Spanish
Subtitles:English

The post Pedro Almodóvar – Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios AKA Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
Harshly treated by the critics on release, of Pedro Almodovar’s work, Kika is perhaps the one that most benefits from re-viewing and re-assessment.

The story of Kika (an astonishing Veronica Forque), a Madrid makeup artist whose relationship with Ramon (Alex Cassanovas) leads to criminal schemes involving Kika’s maid Juana (Rossy DePalma), Jauan’s amorous, criminal brother Pablo (Santiago Lajusticia) and Ramon’s youth-obsessed father Nicholas (Peter Coyote). Overseeing it all is the muckraking, reality tabloid television show presided over by the formidable Andrea Scarface (a uniquely attired Victoria Abril).

Attracting controversy because of the scene in which Almodovar depicts Kika’s rape at the hands of Pablo with humorous detachment, the scene has since come to be more popularly viewed as further evidence of the director’s tribute to the power of women.

Pedro Almodovar - (1993) Kika.mkv

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Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	1h 54mn
Size: 	1.98 GiB
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https://nitro.download/view/D8DA6508E3EAB53/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1993)_Kika.mkv

Language(s):Spanish
Subtitles:English here

The post Pedro Almodóvar – Kika (1993) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

After twenty-five years, Silva rides a horse across the desert to visit his friend Sheriff Jake. They celebrate the meeting, but the next morning Jake tells him that reason for his trip is not to go down the memory lane of their friendship.

Strange.Way.of.Life.2023.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD5.1.H.264-Kitsune.mkv

General
Container:	Matroska
Runtime:	31mn 26s
Size:	1.88 GiB
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Resolution:	1920x800
Aspect ratio:	2.40:1
Frame rate:	24.000 fps
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https://nitro.download/view/BF749A2280D6BB4/Strange.Way.of.Life.2023.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD5.1.H.264-Kitsune.mkv

Language(s):English
Subtitles:English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French

The post Pedro Almodóvar – Extraña forma de vida aka Strange Way of Life (2023) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

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Marisa Paredes is Leocadia (“Leo”) Macias, a woman writing “pink” romance novels under the alias of Amanda Gris that are very popular all across Spain. Unlike her romantic novels, her own love life is troubled. Leo has a less than happy relationship with her husband Paco, a military officer stationed in Brussels then later in Bosnia, who is distant both physically and emotionally.

Leo begins to change the direction of her writing, wanting to focus more on darker themes such as pain and loss, and can no longer write her Amanda Gris novels, whose publishers demand sentimental happy-endings, at least until her contract is up.

She begins to reevaluate her life through her relationship with her husband, her supposedly best friend Betty, her “crab-faced” sister Rosa and her bickering elderly mother. She also meets Angel, a newspaper editor who quickly falls for Leo and her writing.

1.80GB | 1h 45mn | 1024×510 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/BB2ADACAE079F3C/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1995)_The_Flower_of_My_Secret.mkv
or
https://fikper.com/Lv6vuD28l6/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1995)_The_Flower_of_My_Secret.mkv.html

Language(s):Spanish,French
Subtitles:English

The post Pedro Almodóvar – La flor de mi secreto AKA The Flower of My Secret (1995) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Quote:
The first feature film from Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar is controversial and shocking, especially the time it was made (although not that shocking in Spain), but also very funny. Basically it is a movie about nothing, although it shows a pop-culture that Almodóvar inhabited.

We see how Pepi (Carmen Maura) is raped by a policeman (Félix Rotaeta) after she offers sex, although tries to back out, so he would not report her illegal cannabis plants. Pepi seeks revenge and she lets her friends beat the guy up. It seems they have beaten his twin brother so Pepi must come up with another plan. She tries this through the policeman’s wife named Luci (Eva Siva) who turns out to be a masochist, perfect for Pepi’s friend Bom (Olvido Gara) who likes to disparage her.

1.44GB | 1h 21mn | 768×576 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/BDA3BC6B1BDA1F7/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1980)_Pepi,_Luci,_Bom_and_Other_Girls_Like_Mom.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/9A73552F41FB2E6/PEPI_LUCI_BOM_sub_T5_Subtitle_-_English.srt
or
https://fikper.com/WIjDEfuPnl/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1980)_Pepi,_Luci,_Bom_and_Other_Girls_Like_Mom.mkv.html
https://fikper.com/zSqSJr0goE/PEPI_LUCI_BOM_sub_T5_Subtitle_-_English.srt.html

Language(s):Spanish
Subtitles:English

The post Pedro Almodóvar – Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del montón AKA Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom (1980) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

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A dysfunctional family in Madrid: Gloria is a cleaning lady, hooked on No-Doze, living in a crowded flat with Antonio, her surly husband, a cabby who adores an aging German singer he used to chauffeur; he’s also a forger. One teen son sells heroin, the other sleeps with men. Her mother-in-law keeps bottled water and cupcakes under lock and key, selling them to the family. Two alcoholic writers cook up a plot to sell a manuscript as Hitler’s memoirs, if Antonio will transcribe it in Hitler’s hand. He agrees, so they ask the German singer to play the role of the original owner since her past affinity for Nazi memorabilia makes her a likely candidate. Meanwhile, Gloria has given away one son to a sex-crazed dentist, and grandma picks up a pet lizard. Can this chaos be tamed?

1.85GB | 1h 41m | 1024×552 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/8FCFE5C2AE09288/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1984)_What_Have_I_Done_to_Deserve_This.mkv
or
https://fikper.com/rYVTwv25XQ/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1984)_What_Have_I_Done_to_Deserve_This.mkv.html

Language(s):Spanish,German,English,French
Subtitles:English

The post Pedro Almodóvar – ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto!! AKA What Have I Done To Deserve This? (1984) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

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Pedro Almodovar’s films are a struggle between real and fake heartbreak–between tragedy and soap opera. They’re usually funny, too, which increases the tension. You don’t know where to position yourself while you’re watching a film like “All About My Mother,” and that’s part of the appeal: Do you take it seriously, like the characters do, or do you notice the bright colors and flashy art decoration, the cheerful homages to Tennessee Williams and “All About Eve” (1950) and see it as a parody? Even Almodovar’s camera sometimes doesn’t know where to stand: When the heroine’s son writes in his journal, the camera looks at his pen from the point of view of the paper.

“All About My Mother” is one of the best films of the Spanish director, whose films present a Tennessee Williams sensibility in the visual style of a 1950s Universal-International tearjerker. Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone never seem very far offscreen. Bette Davis isn’t offscreen at all: Almodovar’s heroines seem to be playing her. Self-parody is part of Almodovar’s approach, but “All About My Mother” is also sincere and heartfelt; though two of its characters are transvestite hookers, one is a pregnant nun and two more are battling lesbians, this is a film that paradoxically expresses family values.

The movie opens in Madrid with a medical worker named Manuela (Cecilia Roth) and her teenage son Esteban (Eloy Azorin). They’ve gone to see a performance of “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1993) and now wait across the street from the stage door so Esteban can get an autograph from the famous actress Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes). She jumps into a taxi (intercut with shots from “All About Eve” of Bette Davis eluding an autograph hound), and Esteban runs after her and is struck dead in the street. That sets up the story, as Manuela journeys to Barcelona to inform Esteban’s father of the son’s death.

There is irony as the film folds back on itself, because its opening scenes show Manuela, now a transplant coordinator but once an actress, performing in a video intended to promote organ transplants. In the film, grieving relatives are asked to allow the organs of their loved ones to be used; later Manuela plays the same scene for real, as she’s asked to donate her own son’s heart.

The Barcelona scenes reflect Almodovar’s long-standing interest in characters who cross the gender divide. Esteban’s father is now a transvestite prostitute. In a scene worthy of Fellini, we visit a field in Barcelona where cars circle a lineup of flamboyant hookers of all sexes, and where Manuela, seeking her former lover, finds an old friend named Agrado (Antonia San Juan). The name means “agreeable,” we’re told, and Agrado is a person with endless troubles of her own who nevertheless enters every scene looking for the laugh. In one scene, she dresses in a Chanel knockoff and is asked if it is real. As a street hooker, she couldn’t afford Chanel, but her answer is unexpected: “How could I buy a real Chanel with all the hunger in the world?” There are unexpected connections between the characters, even between Esteban’s father and Sister Rosa (Penelope Cruz), a nun who works in a shelter for battered prostitutes. And new connections are forged. We meet the actress Huma Rojo once again, and her girlfriend and co-star Nina (Candela Pena): “She’s hooked on junk and I’m hooked on her.” When Nina flakes out, Manuela is actually able to understudy her role, having played it years ago. And Agrado finds a job as Huma’s personal assistant. Meanwhile, the search goes on for the missing lover.

Manuela is the heroine of the film and its center, but Agrado is the source of life. There’s an extraordinary scene in which she takes an empty stage against a hostile audience and tries to improvise a one-woman show around the story of her life. Finally she starts an inventory of the plastic surgeries that assisted her in the journey from male to female, describing the pain, procedure and cost of each, as if saying, “I’ve paid my dues to be who I am today. Have you?” Almodovar’s earlier films sometimes seemed to be manipulating the characters as an exercise. Here the plot does handstands in its eagerness to use coincidence, surprise and melodrama. But the characters have a weight and reality, as if Almodovar has finally taken pity on them–has seen that although their plights may seem ludicrous, they’re real enough to hurt. These are people who stand outside conventional life and its rules, and yet affirm them. Families are where you find them and how you make them, and home, it’s said, is the place where, if you have to go there, they have to take you in.

2.19GB | 1h 41m | 1024×440 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/4C3EA0D6DAF7020/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1999)_All_About_My_Mother.mkv
https://nitro.download/view/274FC72D19F60B8/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1999)_All_About_My_Mother.srt
or
https://nitro.download/view/31303DD63C7ACD9/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1999)_All_About_My_Mother.part1.rar
https://nitro.download/view/F9325398A250239/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1999)_All_About_My_Mother.part2.rar
https://nitro.download/view/F6DC7295337E77C/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1999)_All_About_My_Mother.part3.rar
https://nitro.download/view/274FC72D19F60B8/Pedro_Almodovar_-_(1999)_All_About_My_Mother.srt

Language(s):Spanish
Subtitles:English

The post Pedro Almodóvar – Todo sobre mi madre AKA All About My Mother (1999) first appeared on Cinema of the World.