Almodovar Rankings

I had a chance last week to watch Matador.  I did not care for this at all.  I'm so glad that I didn't break it out while my son was visiting.  I would say this is probably my least favorite Almodovar film of all time, though his first film Pepi (which I've only watched part of) could overtake it for last place.  (Pretty much everyone says this is a very raw, not great film, but you have to start somewhere...)  Although no Almodovar film is completely bad.  In Matador, Pedro himself shows up in a cameo as a controlling and not very nice fashion shoot director.

Now these ranking could shift a bit, as I still have 4 more films to watch: Pepi (in its entirety...), What Have I Done to Deserve This?, High Heels and Live/Flesh.

The best:
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
All About My Mother
Pain and Glory
Volver
Law of Desire

The worst:
Matador
Pepi, Luci, Bom
Kiki
The Skin I Live In/Talk to Her (tie for creepy situations where people are powerless*)
Parallel Mothers

The rankings might shift a bit after I watch the last few films, but not likely in a major way.  

Almodovar must be the director I've seen the largest percentage of his films (and maybe the only one where I will see everything he directed**), though probably one day I will get there with Kurosawa and Ozu and perhaps Hitchcock and Aki Kaurismäki, given that I have so much of their work on DVD.  I think there are quite a few films by Lynch, Cronenberg and even Scorsese that I am just never likely to watch. 

Edit (07/09): I managed to borrow a copy of High Heels from Robarts.  What I hadn't remembered was I did this back in Dec. as well!  And quite a few scenes look very familiar (and in particular this character of a cop going so deep undercover he loses his own identity).  I think this must mean I watched the DVD back in Dec., but then forgot about it!  So weird.  I'll likely have a bit of time this weekend (assuming I don't add even more Fringe shows to my schedule), so I'll try to watch it again before returning it at Robarts.

Edit (12/29): I still haven't rewatched High Heels, but I am convinced I have seen it.  I saw a piece on how Live/Flesh was actually a Christmas movie, and it is definitely set during the holidays.  It was better than I expected (even though kind of weird that the core 5 characters only ever have sex with each other, given how many people live in Madrid), but still doesn't crack the top 5.  I also just watched What Have I Done to Deserve This?  It was interesting, though not as good as I had hoped, and I thought the supernatural angle was dopey.  So it would definitely not make my top 5 list, and indeed I am no longer certain I would go see this on the big screen if it comes around some day.  As a completist, I will just have to carve out some time to watch Pepi and then High Heels for good measure.

* Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down! also belongs in this general category, though somehow the film's exuberance and the victim's ultimate reconciliation with her captor make it a bit more palatable.

** Almost immediately after I wrote that, I realized that I have seen all of Tati's films, as well as those of his sometime friend and disciple, Pierre Etaix.  But we are talking about 5 or 6 feature films and a handful of shorts and/or documentaries in both cases.  Maybe I should qualify this by saying I mean watching all major films by a director who has directed over 10 films.