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La Mala Educación
Well, I was going to say something about this, which I finally got around to reading, but it's too ridiculous to even comment on. Instead, let's just note that I saw La Mala Educación this afternoon, and it's awesome. Got to be one of the most meta movies I've seen in a long time, and I love meta. Besides that, and all of the actually substantive stuff in the film, the image of priests playing soccer while wearing their priest outfits is priceless. Check it out if you get a chance.
February 22, 2005 | Permalink
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It's becoming increasingly clear that I'm the only person who just doesn't get La Mala Educación, though I wholehearedly endorse [Read More]
Tracked on Feb 22, 2005 9:31:56 AM
Comments
Thanks, Matt, I plan on seeing it next week when it arrives here.
But Christ on a cactus, what exactly do you mean by 'meta'? Do you mean it is self-referential, that it functions as a discussion of itself?
Posted by: Jake Haisley | Feb 22, 2005 2:21:55 AM
In short -- yes. It's self-referential jumble that, on one level at least, is merely about its own construction. Like Adaptation, but actually good, not just middlebrow-people-will-think-they-sound-smart-if-they-say-they-like-it good.
Posted by: Matthew Yglesias | Feb 22, 2005 2:36:44 AM
Best film of 2004, by a wide margin.
Posted by: djw | Feb 22, 2005 2:52:01 AM
As for that stupid link:
This is why, when I think of female intellectuals today, only Camille Paglia comes to mind.
Someone at the LA times owes me 29.95 for a new bullshit detector, because mine just blew about six fuses.
Posted by: djw | Feb 22, 2005 2:54:54 AM
"Like Adaptation, but actually good, not just middlebrow-people-will-think-they-sound-smart-if-they-say-they-like-it good."
Don't be dissin' Charlie Kaufman.
Posted by: Petey | Feb 22, 2005 3:30:39 AM
the image of priests playing soccer while wearing their priest outfits is priceless.
Obviously a sly allusion to 'Father Ted'.
Posted by: ahem | Feb 22, 2005 5:39:53 AM
middlebrow-people-will-think-they-sound-smart-if-they-say-they-like-it good
That was Being John Malkovich, but not Adaptation.
Anyway, sorry Yglesias, but I out blue-stated you on this one a month ago.
Posted by: digamma | Feb 22, 2005 6:19:57 AM
mm.. Didn't like bad education much. I like meta too, but being just meta isn't enough.
Posted by: Atrios | Feb 22, 2005 8:12:17 AM
I liked it a good deal, and a good deal less than Talk to her.
Posted by: John Isbell | Feb 22, 2005 8:28:59 AM
But, since we're on Spanish moves let me recommend "La Communidad" and "Muertos de Risa."
Posted by: Atrios | Feb 22, 2005 8:49:22 AM
Priests playing soccer ain't a patch on Benedictine monks playing tennis, sandals and all, which spectacle I have been privileged to see.
Posted by: Davis X. Machina | Feb 22, 2005 9:02:57 AM
Matt, am I remembering right that you haven't seen Eternal Sunshine yet? There's some seriously meta stuff going on in that movie, and it's really great. I also liked Bad Education, but I think Almodovar's previous two movies (the aforementioned Talk to Her, and All About My Mother) were better.
If meta = about its own construction, then 8 1/2 has got to be the most meta-movie ever made. Also one of my favorites.
Posted by: Haggai | Feb 22, 2005 9:40:17 AM
I had a lot of arguments after Adaptation came out about the reliability of the narrator. That frequently happens with self-referential movies, though it happens with ever kinds as well. As to it being good, it's frequently laugh out loud funny and Nicholas Cage is great in it, so I'm not really sure why it's just something that would appeal to middlebrow people trying to be smart.
Posted by: washerdreyer | Feb 22, 2005 9:43:54 AM
Didn't Python do priests and soccer?
Posted by: jerry | Feb 22, 2005 10:01:54 AM
Agree with the above: Mala Educacion was nowhere near as good as All About My Mother. It's not even close. Heck, I didn't think it was even as good as Talk To Her.
Posted by: Al | Feb 22, 2005 10:22:59 AM
jerry, Python did philosophers and soccer, the Greeks vs. the Germans, with Confucius as the referee, and a lonely Franz Beckenbauer on the German side as well. Now THAT was a classic skit.
Posted by: Haggai | Feb 22, 2005 10:25:52 AM
We middle-brow types have feelings ya know. What if you saw the 120-130s picking on a poor 100 fan of Reality-TV or something, you'd get all PC and protective of that level of handicap. Just cause this recursive self-referential meta-blah-blah stuff is really hard shouldn't mean you should discourage the ambition of psuedo-intellectual wanna-be's.
Just saying.
Posted by: bob mcmanus | Feb 22, 2005 10:28:42 AM
In the sense that All About My Mother may be one of the great films of all time, yes, Bad Education may not be there... yet. It may, though, be one of the best pieces of film noir ever. And while I liked Talk To Her, it was a little cerebral and odd. Bad Education is a well executed piece of solid storytelling, on top of being a tasty thrill ride. I suppose I'm gushing but I saw it three times.
Posted by: weboy | Feb 22, 2005 10:57:27 AM
the image of priests playing soccer while wearing their priest outfits is priceless
Were you never in Montreal in winter? "Brothers" in their cassocks playing hockey were a traditional sight on Quebec (Catholic school) ice rinks throughout most of the 20th century.
Posted by: Y.T. | Feb 22, 2005 11:17:03 AM
the image of priests playing soccer while wearing their priest outfits is priceless
Were you never in Montreal in winter? "Brothers" in their cassocks playing hockey were a traditional sight on Quebec (Catholic school) ice rinks throughout most of the 20th century.
Posted by: Y.T. | Feb 22, 2005 11:17:39 AM
the image of priests playing soccer while wearing their priest outfits is priceless
Were you never in Montreal in winter? "Brothers" in their cassocks playing hockey were a traditional sight on Quebec (Catholic school) ice rinks throughout most of the 20th century.
Posted by: Y.T. | Feb 22, 2005 11:17:39 AM
My question is, does Bad Education really warrant its NC-17 rating? Or is its rating just indicative of the MPAA's homophobia? I'm asking because I recently found out that being seventeen, I'm still barred from those movies, which is a huge frustration considering how much I wanted to see Education in theaters.
Posted by: Rachel | Feb 22, 2005 11:23:41 AM
'Educacion' is a fine film and a great noir. It may not be Almodovar's best, but a B+ flim by a real artist is a lot more interesting than the very best work of somebody mediocre (by that I don't mean Kaufman, BTW).
Posted by: jonnybutter | Feb 22, 2005 11:32:07 AM
Wow, a triple post! Sorry, the system requested me to correct "the error below" (none apparent) and repost...
Posted by: Y.T. | Feb 22, 2005 11:46:30 AM
Rachel, I'm not sure it's homophobia, though there's always something stupid and inconsistent about how movies get rated. There is one blow job scene, although you don't actually see it happening because it's filmed from the side (with the receiver's thighs obstructing the other guy's mouth). There's another scene by a swimming pool with a pretty close-in crotch shot of a man in a skimpy, wet, almost see-through bathing suit, and that might have brought on the NC-17 as much as anything else did.
Posted by: Haggai | Feb 22, 2005 11:56:29 AM
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