Strange Way of Life in Cannes: Almodóvar’s latest short film has tons of style, lacks substance and very little sex
After his amazing film The Human Voice (2020), a one-handed film starring Tilda Swinton, Pedro Almodóvar continues his foray into short filmmaking. This time he brings us Strange Way of Life, essentially a two-handed game. Now sheriff of a town called Bitter Creek, Silva (Pedro Pascal) and Jake (Ethan Hawke) are former lovers who have been estranged for 25 years. They’ve built a new life for themselves that includes wives, lovers, and children. Their separate paths converge when Silva’s son Joe is accused of killing Jake’s sister-in-law, who was both Joe’s lover and Jake’s ex-lover.
Silva rides around town, radiant in an apple green jacket (courtesy of Anthony Vaccarello for Yves Saint Laurent, who is also the film’s associate producer). Jake is just as dapper in his designer clothes; Bitter Creek may be a one-horse town, but there are more handsome fellows here than you can lasso. One serenades us at the beginning of the film and another in the sheriff’s office. Joe, the renegade son, has undoubtedly inherited his father’s good looks and even the Mexican prostitutes are gorgeous.
Suffice it to say that Almodóvar is not about authenticity. But he is interested in beauty – the cast, the interiors, the art, the horses and the location all exude beauty. This may be the first Western to feature single men, with Georgia O’Keefe art on the walls, kitschy religious ornaments on the dresser, and walls painted in Almodóvar’s favorite color palette.
Although the film was shot in Almeria, where many spaghetti westerns are filmed, it has little in common with the genre. What interests Almodóvar is the relationship between his two protagonists and whether they can make their love work in such a hostile environment.
Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal in Strange Ways of Life
/ Guide to the filmInterestingly, the director has chosen to be quite reserved about the sex scenes. We see Silva’s bottom, but there is no frontal nudity. And before things get too hot, the sex scenes go black. There’s a bit of kissing and heavy stroking, but that’s all we get to see, making it seem oddly dated, like a 1950s movie.
While The Human Voice has offered so much to the audience, and the director has created a visual and intellectual feast in just 30 minutes, this film feels a bit tenuous: there is little desire to see more or learn more about this tenuous, two-dimensional To experience characters who… It’s a shame when you have two actors of this caliber who both perform perfectly well. With a little more substance to do justice to the surface beauty, this could have been a great half hour.
Strange Way of Life screened at the 76th Cannes Film Festival; The UK release date is yet to be determined
https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/strange-way-of-life-review-almodovar-pedro-pascal-ethan-hawke-short-movie-b1081379.html Strange Way of Life in Cannes: Almodóvar’s latest short film has tons of style, lacks substance and very little sex
