Review: La piel que habito (3.8/5*)

Pedro Almodovar is known for his uses of various genres within a single film. His latest film La piel que habito (The Skin I Live In) is no different, if not slightly less effective than his previous works.

In this case, Almodovar is up to the same old tricks but in less familiar territory - horror. It is horror without the gore and violence, but still quite disturbing. The film begins in the year 2012 in Toledo, a quiet town outside of Madrid. In a country house, Vera (Elena Anaya) is secretly held captive and watched over by the dutiful housemaid Marilia (Marisa Paredes) while surgeon Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) continues to conduct years-long research and procedures on Vera, in hopes of reconstructing a "perfect" human skin graft. Unusual though the set up may already be, things take a turn for the worst once Marilia receives an unexpected visit from her son Zeca who discovers Vera.

Trailer Time: Page One, The Skin I Live In

*Pedro Almodóvar and Antonio Banderas on the set of The Skin I Live In

Literature, journalism and every other form of the printed word is at a crisis. The immediacy, ease, and convenience of the internet and the digital age proves to be such devastating competition that the the publishing and journalism worlds have been in a constant whirlwind of change to keep up with it. And even The New York Times is no different. Or so the documentary Page One shows....