NZIFF Film Review: "I'm So Excited!" ("Los amantes pasajeros") (2013).

From the director of All About My Mother and The Skin I Live In comes I'm So Excited! (Los amantes pasajeros). This Spanish comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. A Spanish flight headed for Mexico runs into technical difficulties. The crew decide to drug everyone in economy class and devote themselves to cheering up the small group of passengers in business class, and themselves, by all available means.

With a budget of €5 million, the film was financed entirely by pre-sales. By early July 2012, Javier Cámara, Antonio de la Torre, Raúl Arévalo, Carlos Areces, Lola Dueñas, Cecilia Roth, Blanca Suárez, with Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, and Paz Vega were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in early September. Filming took pace at the decommissioned Ciudad Real Central Airport in Madrid, as well as Castilla-La Mancha, Spain

The film stars Cámara, de la Torre, Arévalo, Areces, Dueñas, Roth, Suárez, with Banderas, Cruz, and Vega. The film is playful fun thanks to the ensemble cast who delivered. All the actors were superb and gave superb performances. The cast slinks devilishly (and expertly) between farce, absurdism and tragedy.

I'm So Excited is a film whose overwhelming liveliness provides an enthusiastic, ebullient rebuke to the despair of its characters. The film's colour scheme is like a makeup counter display, and the narrative has the same sort of spirit, with dabs of humour that gloss over or disrupt the heroine's grief. An ensemble comedy with real bite; it always brings down the house. The film is the gold standard for Almodovar's screwball farces. It is an exuberant comedy of manners drunk on its own outlandish dark comedy drama. The film is a great addition to Almodvar's world and a great introduction for a new generation of Almodovar fans. In the film, Almodovar sets out to charm rather than shock. That he succeeds should not come as a surprise. It is probably Almodovar's most completely accessible film - certainly it's one of his funniest and most popular works. Almodovar's funky widescreen style is captivating, but his madcap story is maddeningly devoid of seriousness. The film doesn't exactly feel like a farce, even though that's quite obviously what it is. It is even wackier than Almodovar's other films -- it also just happens to be more universal. However, when Almodóvar attempts a plot the film becomes tedious. It is a somewhat harsh critique of a Spanish culture that dooms women to indentured servitude. Almodóvar's films have an admirable newness and originality that shouldn't be ignored. The film shows off the bright, gaudy visual style, the breezy manner and the exuberant energy that are Almodovar's particular virtues. Almodovar has already learned how to pull off such a difficult act, by treating the potentially offensive with such cartoonish abandon that it becomes ridiculous to take offense. This new cinematic effort from Spain's enfant terrible is amateurish in both the positive and negative senses of the term, but it already shows his penchant for shock and provocation.

Simon says I'm So Excited! (Los amantes pasajeros) receives:

Also, see my reviews for The Skin I Live In (La piel que habito) and The Crowd.