The Passion of Pedro Almodovar: A Self-Portrait In Seven Films. Book Review
Full disclosure: for me, the Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar can do no wrong. The sheer volume of top notch films in his catalogue are, in my opinion unmatched and only Rainer Werner Fassbinder immediately springs to mind when it comes to quantity and quality. James Miller's book takes a look at seven films from this rich body of work:

Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls On The Heap

Law of Desire

The Flower of My Secret

Bad Education

Volver

Broken Embraces

Pain And Glory

Here, the themes and textures of these films are explored,acknowledging the autobiographical nature of some of the director's key works, and helping to generate fresh ways of looking at them through better eyes. The director's experiences in Catholic schools are referenced with regard to stories he tells on a personal journey that will hopefully continue for a good while to come. Miller's interpretations of mood and motivation are, for me, always engaging but I will offer friendly advice to those who are at the formative stage of their Almodovar exploration. The analysis of these seven films do, by necessity, include spoilers, so I suggest watching each film before reading about it. My guess is that you'll immediately book a repeat viewing, fired by Miller's ideas.

The Passion of Pedro Almodovar is published in the UK by Columbia University Press, and highly recommended for seasoned admirers and newcomers alike.

James Miller's The Passion of Pedro Almodóvar is a wonderful treat for fans of the director's work. It examines seven of his films and how these films reflect Almodóvar's past and his connection to the art he creates. I appreciated how Miller delves into Almodóvar's biography, his cultural interests, and Spanish history to connect these aspects to his films. This social and cultural examination of Almodóvar's life adds a resonance to the films that we may not have noticed before especially if we were unaware of many of these details.

If I have a small quibble, it's that Miller occasionally goes off on overly philosophical tangents. However, he does an excellent job of illuminating Almodóvar's films in a way that encourages us to reexamine them. Miller's insights make us want to rewatch these films through the lens of the information he provides in the book. That makes the book a valuable addition to any film lover's library. I now want to rewatch "Flower of My Secret" for the fourth time.

I recommend this book to all fans of the auteur, film students, scholars and artists.
One very hard to dispute truth is that Almodovar is an auteur, and this shapes the narrative in Miller’s book.
He starts with five key points (unsure to call them axioms or theories) and establishes them as the narrative points of the book. Each chapter gives us hints about Almodovar’s life (as someone who is moderately familiar with his life story in relation to his filmmaking, some aspects were new to me) and an analysis of the chapter focus: one of his films. How these two arenas are blended was very well done.
As someone who has seen all of covered works in this book, except for the one in chapter 3, I benefited from the analyses and insights plenty.
For some context, I am very fond of Almodovar’s certain films and his signature visual style, and critical of some other works of his, some of which are his more well-beloved ones. Whether you are a die-hard fan or someone like me, who appreciates the best and worse bits in Almodovar’s storytelling, you can enjoy and learn from this book.

I had mixed feelings about this book. In its favour was the fact that it is written in a lively, engaging way - it had a lightness of touch missing from many academic books, and I was never bored. I also learnt a lot about Pedro Almodóvar's early life and some of his lesser-known films. It helped me put his work in context.

The author explains that "as in my previous books, I study an artist's signature obsessions, relying on the powers of sympathetic imagination or empathy." This experimental approach in itself was not the issue - as I mentioned, the book's great strength is that it is not boring - but by identifying so strongly with Pedro Almodóvar, having such intense enthusiasm for his life and work, the author perhaps got so close to his subject, he didn't leave enough oxygen for critique. I would have liked for this book to sometimes take a step back, and question some of the choices the director has made. There are some passages, for example, where the author describes in detail film scenes which have the aura of sexual abuse. For sure, it is a fiction being created on film, but it is also real actors and actresses being put in the situation of re-enacting particular scenarios and fantasies, and that may leave a scar. I was left wondering what a 'Me Too' analysis of these films would look like, written by someone who does not have Pedro Almodóvar on a pedestal.

Apologies that this is a fairly negative review. It might be that this book is simply "marmite" - and I'm sure it will find an audience among enthusiasts of the director's work.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.