Today’s announcement (Sony Pictures Classics picks up a 10th Pedro Almodovar picture) proves that in the rare case, long term partnerships do exist. Of course, what makes Michael Barker and Tom Bernard’s move a no-brainer is that they are working with one of those exceptional directors that always manages to bring something worthwhile to the table, a sure bet among art-house pics.
With the purchase, SPC add Cannes clout to their 2009 line-up. Currently in production and nearing the end of it, (I sometimes keep tabs on the production via Pedro’s multi-lingual blog ), Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos) grabs some of the narrative, film noir ideas that the Spanish filmmaker first toyed around with in Bad Education. Once again featuring Penelope Cruz finds herself in the lead role, and the picture is described as “a four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of ’50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled, and will mix references to works like Nicholas Ray’s IN A LONELY PLACE and Vincente Minnelli’s THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, with signature Almodovar themes such as Fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers”.
