Also, I believe Hable con ella, and not Volver, is the true A+ of the bunch.

http://www.reverseshot.com/article/skin_i_live

A (spoiler-heavy) takedown, just for a counterpoint.

And don\’t fret too much about Dark Habits. Almost all of its plot and comedy comes from the spectacle of nuns behaving badly, which I\’ve come to conclude is irresistibly hilarious to Catholics and mildly amusing to the rest of us at best. Not his worst, but certainly not his best.

A great little piece on Pedro\’s newest and where it fits into his filmography. The discussion I linked basically posits The Skin I Live In as the most hermetic and self-referential of Almodóvar\’s films, though I don\’t know if it gives it enough credit for tackling the horror genre, hitherto unfamiliar to Almodóvar. Building off of that, I think Pedro\’s either going to continue getting worse or continue getting better. Broken Embraces, more than what I\’m reading about The Skin I Live In, seemed like a lowpoint in his career. It had all the elements of his usual films without the ineffable alchemy. I don\’t know if Almodóvar realized that at any point during or after the production, but I feel like his new film has to be at least somewhat a reaction to the accusations of burnout. The Skin I Live In does seem like another case of heedless self-reference, but it also seems to bring a few promising additions to the usual \’formula.\’ I haven\’t seen it yet, so this is all conjecture, but that does seem to be the gist I\’m getting.

So, as said, from here it\’s all downhill or uphill. Late career renaissance or old master cannibalizing himself? Guess we\’ll find out. I\’m a longtime Almodóvar fan, so I certainly hope for the former, but I have my doubts.