“Pain and Glory,” February 5, 2020 (2019), DVD (Spanish with subtitles.) I have a very strange relationship to and with the films of Pedro Almodovar. If feels as though he intentionally alternates remarkable works of cinema with superb and emotionally powerful character development and incredible dialogue with works of self-indulgent crap. This wonderful, thoughtful, incredibly well acted, semi-autobiographical film is superbly played and directed. I would have given Antonia Banderas an Oscar for his stunning portrayal of filmmaker Salvador Mallo, caught between a body wracked by physical pain, and a life of memories, glory, and loss. He is sublime as he confronts himself as a child growing up in a cave and a younger man in this film through his art. It doesn’t lose its sense of humor for all the seriousness of the film. Penelope Cruz plays his mother in flashbacks and she is her usual force of nature self. I really loved this film. Others have filmed their vision of film, of course. This moved me even more than those great works by the likes of Fellini and Truffaut. I felt as though Banderas, Almodovar opened up his soul. See this movie.