Pedro Almodóvar Laments the State of Cinema: ‘Film Right Now Is Worse Than It Used to Be’

With his 20th film about to be released stateside, Pedro Almodóvar shows no signs of slowing. The Spanish filmmaker answered some questions from Variety to mark the imminent arrival of “Julieta,” touching on whether he watches his own movies, his use of sex onscreen and the state of Hollywood film. On this last subject, Almodóvar admits he isn’t enthusiastic: “It’s very difficult for me to go to the theater and find movies that I love — much more difficult than before.”

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“Maybe I’m getting old,” he concedes, but in either case he believes that “film right now is worse than it used to be. For example, I don’t think that you see the kinds of films you saw in the ’60s or the ’70s.”

The glut of superhero movies is especially wearying, he says, and he offers an unexpected reason why: “Ironically, on some level, the fact that movies are so technically proficient works against them. I used to be interested in the adventure film or any chase film before the effects were so perfect. The digital, the synthetic aspect of the image, has taken some of that away from me. There was a sense of danger that was exciting.”

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So while he hasn’t seen the most recent “Star Wars,” Almodóvar says it isn’t all bad. He offers praise for both “Silence” and “Manchester by the Sea” and says he’d like to see “Moonlight.” He also has at least one thing in common with “Silence” director Martin Scorsese: He isn’t impressed with most recent films either.

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