Pedro Almodóvar has never done Westerns. Not unless you count the winks at “Johnny Guitar” in “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (1988) or “Duel in the Sun” in “Matador” (1985). Likely the most American and the most masculine of genres, the Western and the onscreen cowboy are foundational figures of manhood. It conjures up dusty landscapes, gruff cowboys, and plenty of repression.
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However, Almodóvar famously came semi-close to making the “gay-cowboy” film “Brokeback Mountain” by Ang Lee, has talked about it with twinges of regret over the years, and seemingly looks to scratch that Western itch with his latest short.
So, in his second foray into filmmaking in the English language, following 2020’s short film “The Human Voice,” starring Tilda Swinton, Almodóvar recruits Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal in a short film that has just had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the Special Screenings section.
“Strange Way of Life” is an unusual proposition in Almodóvar’s filmography, usually centered on women, domestic spaces, and set in his native Spain. Here is a story about men who have purposely put a desert between them to deny their attraction to one another. The film begins with a lovers’ reunion, 25 years after their youthful tryst. Silva (Pascal) pays the Sheriff (Hawke) a visit to beg for leniency for his son, who has murdered the Sheriff’s sister-in-law. But before we get to the nasty business of murder, retribution, and the question of duty, there’s longing. With a glimpse of each other, their affair is reignited, and they spend the night together.
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The film would not have worked without the palpable chemistry between Pascal and Hawke. Streaming superstar Pascal and American independent icon Hawke are polar opposite performers, a dichotomy used to the film’s advantage: Pascal’s Silva is nostalgic and puppy-eyed for a lust lost, while Hawke’s Sheriff Jake is steely and stiff, averting Silva’s gaze until he relaxes into it behind closed doors, a hearty stew and a bottle of wine. Excess – of alcohol, food, sex – gives the men permission to lean into their desires. Once drunk, they devour each other. A short flashback shows us that alcohol was always there for the two cowboys – their first kiss was under a torrent of red wine.
But in the morning, the closeness from the night before is gone. Instead, Silva is cloying and Sheriff Jake hides behind his obligations as a lawman. This conversation is the emotional centerpiece of the film. Produced in partnership with Saint Laurent, with the fashion house’s creative director Anthony Vacarrello in charge of the costumes, the film undresses the iconography of a Western. Silva, who appears first in his bright green jacket, wakes up half-naked and vulnerable after their tryst to find Jake, already dressed and hiding behind his Sheriff’s uniform.
“Strange Way of Life” is a queer take on a genre that has historically avoided explicitly centering gay love. There is ardor between Silva and Jake, heavy in each of their interactions, in their way of looking at each other and in their touch. The Western is a genre heavily concerned with duty and so the lovers have to separate, once more, in order to honor their respective obligations: Silva’s as a father, and Jake’s, as a sheriff. A shootout ensues, as the genre demands because men and their guns. However, Almodóvar is most interested in what happens in the room when the lovers are alone in a room together. That’s how we leave them, on a moment of conditional tenderness, with Silva taking care of a wounded Jake. Perhaps it’s hope, perhaps resignation. [A+]
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