Almodovar He Was Not

Let’s see if I have this right. This article (click the picture to read) is a tribute to the short life of a guy who made his first movie at 22 years of age, and died at 32. His first movie was about a bunch of drug-taking, partying, lowlifes, “in search of the ultimate experience”. Right after filming was completed, two of the actors - while blasted out of their minds on drugs - recreated a scene in the film by KILLING their drug dealer, CHOPPING the body into pieces, and THROWING it in the river (this was real life people). El Pais says this event was “the perfect launch” for the film (not a great launch for the drug dealer though), and that the director “had arrived.” WTF?

Next this young director had a great NEW idea for a movie, this one would be about three gay men living in Chueca, indulging in sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. But it seems they had trouble getting Spanish film subsidies for this story about explicit gay sex and drug taking (thank God!). According to El Pais, this theme was “too advanced” for Spanish audiences.

He was not done yet. His next story idea was for a stage play, also set in Chueca. This gem features three guys again - one dude who has to work over the weekend, but doesn’t want to because he wants to go out and bang guys. Another tio whose boyfriend says he has to quit partying and get a job, and the last one who missed his chance to give up his life as a male prostitute in order to become an actor. All of them are bummed out so they want to escape reality for a weekend through … yes you guessed it, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. The big question posed in the film? “Do I stay with my partner this weekend, or do I fuck 30 different guys?” Now that’s movie-quality stuff!

To El Pais this is all perfectly natural, even to be lauded. To them, these are great film ideas. This guy was a genius and “too advanced” for the Spanish film going public. I wonder, are these great ideas because everyone is gay?

I’m sorry this guy is dead and all, but obviously the real story here is he led a tragic life. He achieved some success too young and then spent the next ten years of his short life trying to recreate it. The only problem was – he only had one (bad) story idea in him.

Flicks by Mail

For all of you in Madrid who still go to the video store to get your movies, take a look at what is coming. In L.A., nobody goes to a DVD store. Blockbuster is basically out of business. We either watch cable or satellite T.V., or digitally record the shows to watch at any time, or our DVD's come in the mail – from Netflix. Go on-line, choose from an S-load of movies, and pay one rate per month to get three movies out at once for however long you want – no late fees, no lines at the store, you can download them too. Couple this with new, cheaper, flat screen T.V. technology, and there better be a good reason to go to the movie theater. That's why the theaters are not doing so well. Ticket sales are down.

Knowing this is coming to Madrid, I hear about the new potential genius law in Spain. One that would make theater owners show an obligatory amount of Spanish-made movies. I know it pisses them off that happy-ending, fluff American movies are more popular than seeing deep, depressing, state-subsidized Spanish films about people trying to commit suicide, or of people getting molested and getting hooked on heroin (I wonder why?). But the truth is people want to escape when they go to the movies, they want to have fun. Life is ROUGH and everyone knows it. Why not see some fantasy at the movies?

Unlike the deep, thought-provoking, and government subsidized Spanish movies, American movies (except clearly labeled public TV) are made with private money. Somebody actually takes their money out of the bank to make a movie hoping it will turn a profit. Hence, the people get what they want. Even with this silly market-driven system, Hollywood still manages to make some pretty good, and thought-provoking movies - of course along with some crap.

Guys, is it really so bad to let the people watch American movies? Why the fear? It seems like they may be terrified to learn that the Spanish movie-going public has the same tastes as the American public. That would take one more thing off of the, “Why We Feel Superior to the Americans” list.

I say let the market decide what succeeds. They'll probably even find out that the poor Spanish producers can figure out what sells best at home (without government Euros) and that they can give the Americans a run for their money - if given the chance. If they don't, and they try to legislate behavior, the theater business will suffer in Madrid. People will just stay home and watch what they want to on their flat screens with surround sound.