¡Viva Pedro!

Around this time of year I start getting really excited for Fall, and not just because of fashion. Fall brings cooler weather, football and good films. Fall is the time of year when all the Oscar-hopefuls start getting released. There are a few that I'm excited about including Babel, Running With Scissors and Volver. I suppose I'll still see Marie Antoinette even though it got boos and laughs at Cannes.

There are a handful of directors whose films I will always watch. They are Baz Luhrmann, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Sophia Coppola, Mike Nichols, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Pedro Almodóvar.

You see, some movies I'll watch just because they're pretty to look at. They're like a painting or something. For some reason I like films with color schemes, like Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain. Audrey Tautou looks like a beautiful china doll and the the ending made me blubber, but the film is like a magnificent scrapbook. A beautiful, colorful scrapbook come to life.

And that's what Volver looks like to me. Pedro Almodóvar's films are aesthetically intricate. They're saturated in vibrant color schemes. He's the Picasso of film. And like Picasso's Blue Period, this is Pedro's Piebald Period. Volver looks like red, blue and green calico Chintz on celluloid.

And really, what better way to add a splash of color to Fall?