We’ve never been disappointed in an Almodóvar film and this was no exception. The main character, Mallo played by Banderas, is an aging film director who is going back through his life and his relationships. I my opinion this should have been the film they started the festival with. Both the younger (Penelope Cruz) and older actors who played his mother were great, as was the young Mallo.
I have to say the movie was better than the book. I wondered if the movie would be done in a comedic style but it stuck very closely to the theme of a theory. While the book stated a few examples, the examples were much more effective with an actual speaker. There was a segment that concerned the behaviour of the RCMP in Canada; there are definitely some assholes in that organization. I found it interesting that one of the speakers compared the bad behaviour of toddlers (who can't be called assholes) to teenagers (when some strive to be an asshole). All is not lost though; in both the book and the movie it is suggested that we need to continue to stand up to assholes in order that the community around us will also see the need to standup and, even if we aren't able to change the asshole, we may be able to drown him out (statistically most assholes are men).