Pain and Glory (2019)

    This is the most brightly colored film about heroin that I've ever seen.  Honestly, if this were an American movie, it would be all blue filters and overcast skies but this is drenched in bright, vibrant color.  Outstanding.

Salvador (Antonio Banderas) is wracked with pain both physical and mental.  Invited to a retrospective for his first successful film, he reaches out to his first star, Alberto (Asier Exteandia), with whom he had been estranged for 30 years.  Alberto is a functional heroin addict and gets Salvador hooked.  In exchange for more heroin, Salvador gives Alberto the rights to one of his unproduced screenplays that Alberto turns into a successful theater production seen by Salvador's first love, Federico (Leonardo Sbaraglia).  This in turn prompts Salvador to re-evaluate what more is left for him at this stage of his life.

I was not expecting this to be as wholesome as it was.  The minute someone broke out the crack pipe I was like "Oh shit, it's Requiem for a Dream all over again."  But I underestimated the power of Almodóvar behind the camera.  This was, shockingly, the first Oscar nomination for Banderas and he is phenomenal here in a stripped down, emotional performance given mostly through his eyes.

Oh and just as a side note:  the MPAA rating comes up after all the preview and tells you this film is rated R for (among other things) graphic nudity.  This is some bullshit on their part as there is only one nude scene and it is less than 5 seconds long.  But because you can clearly see some dude's dick, it's obviously destroying the fabric of America or something equally as dumb.