It's a useful look at this Spanish auteur finding his way but lacks the elan of his later work.
Overview
A conflicted youth confesses to crimes he didn't commit while a man and woman aroused by death become obsessed with each other.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
The movie looks terrific and is acted with absolute, straight-faced conviction by the excellent cast...
Murder, mutilation, suicide and rape...[are] just a few of Matador's popcorn-incompatible themes. But [Almodovar] swirls his cape over these chargers so imaginatively, shamelessly and inventively, his flamboyance wins the day.
The sincerity here is of a special cracked sort -- the brand that induces laughter but is undiminished by it.
A consistently audacious fantasy of sex and violence set in a modern-day Madrid where everyone is ready to surrender to his or her particular passions.
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