Had we been unable to secure any of our first choices for the upcoming series, Sean and I certainly would have had dozens of great films with which to choose a replacement. I'm sure many of you who see this upcoming schedule are aggrieved by our failure to include any number of films. After all, cinema loves its scoundrels. Last night though I serendipitously stumbled upon what is possibly the most egregious omission from the calendar. Not only does Pedro Almodovar's superb Bad Education fit snugly under the Liars banner (in fact an argument could be made for its inclusion in the other two sub-genres as well), it also manages to concern itself with the three traits that uniquely define our selections for the first third.
The film centers around a love interest that may or may not be what he seems, echoing Audrey Hepburn's suitor played by Cary Grant in Charade.
The story within a story of Bad Education unfolds courtesy of a most unreliable narrator, which is just one of the many manners of subterfuge employed by Orson Welles in the documentary F for Fake.
And finally, Bad Education features an aspiring star who through ruthless deceit works his way up the ladder of professional acting a la the immortal Eve Harrington, played by Anne Baxter, in All About Eve.
I could go on into the many merits of this complex, fascinating film but I fear that I may have already given away too much. Suffice to say, if you're jonesing for a film fix before our series kicks off on August 5th (or before Almodovar's new film Broken Embraces premieres in November), you could do a turn worse than watching Bad Education.
2 comments:
This might convince Sean to finally watch an Almodovar film.
Maybe, someday, but probably not. There are oh so many I need to see.
Post a Comment