I'm So Excited (Los amantes pasajeros) Review

A Everyman Cinema has opened in Leeds and the first in the North. It’s a nice digital cinema in the new Trinity shopping complex in the city centre of Leeds. The first week of it’s opening has had many Q&As and special showings. The first of 2 I went to was a preview of Pedro Almodóvar’s new film I’m So Excited.

I’m So Excited is the first pure comedy since his international sensation Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in 1988. That film broke his strange brand of filmmaking into the public consciousness. He has tend to move away from comedy since then and has moved more into Douglas Sirk inspired melodramas and Hitchcockian thrillers. All his films feature his strange brand of kitschy humour, transsexual or cross-dressing characters and normally but not always a strong female lead character. I tend to prefer his more serious films like Law of Desire, Bad Education and the recent The Skin I Live In.

I’m So Excited is basically a classic sex comedy but with a twist. It’s all set on a plane (for the most part) and they having problems with the landing gear and have to keep flying in circles. The film revolves mainly about the exploits of the 3 gay stewards on the plane. They drink like fish and do plenty of drugs. While they face possible death they have to entertain and serve the passengers as well as they can. However nothing quite goes well and life is as complicated in the clouds as it is on the ground.

It’s a self-described “very light comedy” and it’s fine but serviceable. It has it moments especially when they make the Valencia cocktail spiked with mescaline However it is lacking any of the real substance his finest films have or the classic absurdity of Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. It perfectly fine but of a man who has such a solid body of work reaching back to the early 80s I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed.

★★★☆☆

Ian Schultz

Stars: Javier Cámara, Hugo Silva , Cecillia Roth,Pepa Charro, Lola Dueñas
Director: Pedro Almodóvar
Release: 3rd of May 2013
Certificate: 15 (UK)

Pedro Almodóvar Invites You On board To Watch First uk Trailer I'm So Excited

 If someone was to describe to you Pedro Almodovar's unique style Woody Allen meets John Waters you probably disagree until you see the UK Trailer For I'm So Excited, it's camp all the way!

The Skin I Live In  director goes all camp for his follow up film with a colourful over the top comedy about a  a group of travellers onboard a flight towards Mexico City who find themselves in a life threatening situation. So what's the best remedy to save everyone? Get the all singing, dancing male attendants to belt out an disco classic pointer sisters 'it's so excited' which ironically is the film's name!

There was another trailer just before christmas but this new trailer has some funny new footage and explains the actually plot a little better. If you are a fan of Almodovar  you know expect the unexpected and It's so excited will have a ray of unexpectedness about it but that's why we love the Spanish Auteur so much!

I'm so excited will be released in UK on 3rd May and stars Javier Cámara, Pepa Charro, Cecilia Roth with cameo appearances from Almodovar regulars  Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, paz vega.

Synopsis

A technical failure has endangered the lives of the people on board Peninsula Flight 2549. The pilots are striving, along with their colleagues in the Control Center, to find a solution. The flight attendants and the chief steward are atypical, baroque characters who, in the face of danger, try to forget their own personal problems and devote themselves body and soul to the task of making the flight as enjoyable as possible for the passengers, while they wait for a solution. Life in the clouds is as complicated as it is at ground level, and for the same reasons, which could be summarized in two: sex and death.

source: Total Film