So pleased I don't have to see: Broken Embraces

'Like “All About My Mother,” “Talk to Her,” “Bad Education” and “Volver” — not a bad decade’s work, by the way — “Broken Embraces” leaves the viewer in a contradictory state, a mixture of devastation and euphoria, amusement and dismay that deserves its own clinical designation.' — NYT

Pedro Almodovar. Now there's someone whose movies I don't have to watch any more. Don't have to watch them, don't have to write about them, don't have to wonder why anyone likes them, don't have to come up with a theory about why I don't. There's probably someone shivering through a Almodovar film right this second, a thin smile plastered to their face, grimly soldiering through to the end. It's really great not being a film critic sometimes. Maybe I'll turn this into a regular post: Film I'm Most Grateful Not To Be Watching This Week. In which case, this week's winner is: Broken Embraces.