★ 6 / 10
Several hundred people turned up at this one-night-only
CinemaSerf
Several hundred people turned up at this one-night-only cinema screening and very, very few of us appreciated that is was only going to be half an hour long!!…
Several hundred people turned up at this one-night-only cinema screening and very, very few of us appreciated that is was only going to be half an hour long!! "Silva" (Pedro Pascal) rides half way across the desert to meet up with his old pal "Jake" (Ethan Hawke) who is the local sheriff. It's pretty clear from the get-go that there is a degree of personal baggage between the pair and that the true purpose of the visit is more than to relight old candles and have a good old reminisce... It's OK, this - nothing more. A testament to the drawing power of Almodóvar and Ethan Hawke to watch what is essentially a non-story that tells a little by way of flashback but for the most part just shows us a glimpse of something not especially interesting or unique. Looks good enough but I left a little disappointed and certainly underwhelmed.
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★ 5 / 10
<b>EXT. STRANGE INDEED - DAY</b> Indeed a film
Lachlan Thiele
EXT. STRANGE INDEED - DAY Indeed a film worth seeing. Don't take it seriously, as at its core; it's just a lot of fun. I can see Pedro and Ethan having the…
EXT. STRANGE INDEED - DAY
Indeed a film worth seeing. Don't take it seriously, as at its core; it's just a lot of fun. I can see Pedro and Ethan having the time of their lives with this short. Think of this film as a more campy Brokeback, where the humour grows on you, like our protagonist's budding love.
It would work as a YouTube video. The internet would go wild, especially with the current 'Daddy' love for Pascal.
FADE OUT.
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★ 6 / 10
Strange way to end.
Pjtaylor-96-138044
With its bold colours, heightened melodrama and clunky dialogue, 'Strange Way Of Life (2023)' often feels like a parody of... itself, I guess. Those already…
With its bold colours, heightened melodrama and clunky dialogue, 'Strange Way Of Life (2023)' often feels like a parody of... itself, I guess. Those already accustomed to Pedro Almodóvar's work will recognise these elements, as well as the sincere camp aesthetic they contribute to. However, here it doesn't cohere as well as it typically does in the director's other movies. Perhaps his dialogue has always been this dodgy but, not being a native Spanish speaker, I haven't picked up on it; either way, even actors as good as Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal struggle to sell the dialogue here. Still, the piece operates on a kind of down-to-Earth unreality that just about works. A bigger issue is that the story just... ends. Like, almost in the middle of a sentence. It feels as though the screenplay was still being written when Yves Saint Laurent's production company called and offered a green light on the condition that filming started almost then and there, so Almodóvar put down his pen and picked up his viewfinder and shot what he had. There's a lot more that could have been done with this tale of long-burning, societally repressed romance; the ending feels like the midpoint of a much more affecting feature-length affair. Another smaller issue with the flick is that it's nowhere near as erotically charged as you may expect. Hawke and Pascal do a good job at conveying their barely hidden attraction for one another, and there's a sense of tragedy that underlines their once-flourishing relationship, but they display no real physical connection and the only time they get hot and heavy is in a flashback (when their characters are portrayed by younger actors). Their connection is believable, but not as fleshed out as it could have been. It's also remarkably tame if you're familiar with Almodóvar's earlier efforts. Ultimately, though, the piece is entertaining enough for what it is. It has a solid central story that's underexplored but interesting, and two strong lead performances that lend authenticity to the generally clumsy screenplay. It's not a bad effort, by any means. It's just not as moving, or fun, as I'd like it to be.
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78%
TOMATOMETER
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AUDIENCE
· 100 ratings
6.2/10
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Well @qb8young, this movie is made by one of Spain's, best film director, Pedro Almodóvar. He does not even speak English, himself.