Pedro Almodóvar Becomes a Commander of the Italian Republic
June 16th, 2007 by Andre Soares
This past Thursday, June 14, one of the world’s top directors of the last 25 years, Pedro Almodóvar, was presented with the title of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, one of Italy’s highest civilian honors. The Spanish director received the Commendation for his "contributions to European cinema and culture" from Italy’s minister of culture Francesco Rutelli.
The ceremony was held at the Palazzo Chigi, following a reception for the nominees for the David di Donatello Awards, which were presented later that evening. Although Almodóvar’s Volver was nominated for a David di Donatello as best film from the European Union, the director declined to take part in the early morning ceremony. He received the Commendation on his own. (Volver, by the way, unfortunately lost to Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s spy melodrama Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives of Others.)
"We hope that his biography as a filmmaker," said Rutelli, "will continue to be enriched as it has been enriched throughout the years."
Besides stating that he would like to direct Margherita Buy and Silvana Pampanini, Almodóvar asserted that his films have been heavily influenced by those of Italian filmmakers such as Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, and Pier Paolo Pasolini, in addition to the performances of Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani.
"I wanted to dedicate my film Volver to the image of the Italian housewife who has always remained, unlike so many others, a representation of a woman who is both passionate and desirable. … Quentin Tarantino [who poo-pooed recent Italian films] is simpatico and talented, but he sometimes suffers from a sort of verbal incontinence, and when he badmouths Italian cinema he demonstrates that he doesn’t know the great filmmakers but only those of the trash-horror genre, like [Mario] Bava, [Umberto] Lenzi, or [Lucio] Fulci. Spain and Italy have similar cultures in which emotion, instinct, the art of getting by and of suffering so as to express one’s talent are part of the national DNA."
Almodóvar quote: Il Tempo (Google translation)
Addendum: The [London] Times offers a different Almodóvar quote — "Quentin is a good director, a passionate cinema enthusiast — and a great expert on all the world’s trash … I don’t think he was comparing the best auteur cinema of yesterday and today. I doubt he had the cinema of Luchino Visconti, Pietro Germi and Pier Paolo Pasolini in mind — and as for Italian filmmakers of today, I don’t think he even knows who they are."
Golden Globe Foreign-Language Film Nominees at the American Cinematheque
Penélope Cruz AFI FEST Tribute
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I’m trying to find purchase in the spiritual soil of my beloved little counrty , New Zealand . Here , alone and cullturally adrift in a heaving southern ocean we 4million people have , what might appear to be a untopian life . We are safe from those with big guns and bombs . We’re safe from horror and oppression . And yet we have stalled in our process of social evalution .
We are a country of rugby players and keen business people and yet we have some of the worst reputations for dysfunction in the industrialised world . Suicide rates , anti depressant use , recreational drug use ( Particularly extreme anti social drug types like methamphetamines . ) So I ask myself why ? The answer is obvious to me . Neoliberalism .The New right economic cult that is called neoconservatism in the USA .
And when I watched the film ‘ Volver ‘ directed by Pedro Almodovar I realised what we’d lost as a society . It’s what we sold for a few dollars . We’ve sold our souls . I saw , in that film , a rich and deep vein of human spirit . The life expressed by and drawn from within the characters was stupendous . I watched the interviews with the cast and the director and that made me yearn for Spain . The kissing , the food , the time spent , the rich colours , washing dishes as an art form , the celebration of women as wonderful , powerful , gentle , loving , intellectuals . Pedro Almodovar , you are a genious and a treasure . One day , hopefully well into the future when you expire you should be set in resin and put on display so as you might be viewed as an exponent of the exhilleration of the human spirit . Viva Espana ! and from me … See you later mate ! Good on ya ! Johnny Lardner . Freelance Film Scout and Locations manager .