Matador

The movie looks terrific and is acted with absolute, straight-faced conviction by the excellent cast headed by Miss Serna, Mr. Martinez and Mr. Banderas. ''Matador'' is of most interest as another work in the career of a film maker who, possibly, is in the process of refining a singular talent.

This trashiness has its own poetry and bravura.

Well-received on the global stage, Matador is a stepping stone to the films that would cement Almodovar’s reputation as the most famous Spanish director since Luis Buñuel.

For all its jolts and bizarre flights of fancy, “Matador” is a marvelously fluid and darkly sensual film in which Almodovar elicits exquisitely controlled performances.

This is a heady combination and perhaps, for those who haven't seen any of the director's other films, a shockingly new one.

It sounds like trashy Spanish television -- and it is, on one level. But the images and sounds (with nods to cinematographer Angel Luis Fernandez's flamenco color schemes and Ernando Bonezzi's provocative score) are too bold to dismiss.

Not so much a maelstrom as a mess of contrived eroticism, pretentious dialogue, and voyeuristic sensationalism, Almodóvar's silly, cod-philosophical whodunit impresses only for its bravado (fans of Paul Verhoeven may love it).