Annual Top Films Lists

Top 200 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2023: #18. Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life

Published on January 19, 2023

Strange Way of Life

Pedro Almodóvar has been challenging himself as of late moving away from what could be repetitiveness and a certain complacency by keeping things fresh, working in different lingos and backdrops. Padding his recent resume with shorts, we now get a film where the female presence might be less pronounced with a Western featuring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal. We really don’t know what to expect with Strange Way of Life – could this be racy and saucy or grimy and dusty? Pedro and Agustín’s production shingle El Deseo produced the film – principal photography took place in Southern Spain in August 2022.

Gist: A retired gunslinger and a former sheriff meet up after a couple of decades apart.

Release Date/Prediction: This will be headed to Cannes but we wonder if the comp is a sure shot?

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).