Salvador (Antonio Banderas), is a film director in decline in more ways than one, experiences a series of reencounters. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered from his childhood in the 60s, the pain of the breakup from his first adult love while it was still alive and intense. Ultimately u writing as his therapy to forget the unforgettable; the early discovery of cinema; and the infinite void that creates the incapacity to keep on making films. In recounting his past, Salvador finds the urgent need to discover what he ultimately needs, his personal and creative salvation.
It’s easy to get lost along the road of life and here with Pain & Glory we get an auteur like Pedro Almodóvar doing nothing less the baring his soul for us all to take in with what is easily another incredibly personal movie in the man’s staggering canon of films.
The film does move through some familiar Almodóvar type themes, but it’s really his personal ode to the art of storytelling. It’s got an obviously restrained tone in comparison to some of his other works but it’s this point that allows the real pleasure of it to come through especially with an understated and stellar performance from Banderas as this struggling storyteller.
Pain & Glory is the marriage of memory and moving image which bursts off of the screen with an unimaginable sense of warmth that allows the past and the present to co-exist in a glorious pas de deux.
David Voigt is a Toronto based writer with a problem and a passion for the moving image and all things cinema. Having moved from production to the critical side of the aisle for well over 15 years now at outlets like Examiner.com, Criticize This, Dork Shelf (Now That Shelf), and to.Night Newspaper.
He’s been all across the continent; serving on the FIPRESCI Jury at the Festival Du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal, covering festivals out side of Toronto like Calgary Underground Film Festival, CUFF Docs, Slamdance, Fantasia, SXSW, DOC NYC, Santa Barbara Film Festival, New York Asian Film Festival and many others
However, In the uncertain world of modern film journalism, David also knew that he needed to have a hand in writing and cementing his own contributions on the global film scene.
Having eclipsed the 10 year anniversary of his own outlet, In The Seats, where he’s been striving to support film (and TV) from all walks of life and his podcast “In The Seats With…” where after 5 & ½ years and over 750 episodes he’s talked with a wide variety of filmmakers, actors, behind the scenes artisans and so much more on the art of storytelling for the screen, which is spawning the launch of a new show in the Spring of 2026. “ITS: Soundtracks” will focus on the use of soundtrack and score in film which he believes is a combination that is the cinematic equivalent of Peanut Butter and Chocolate.
All this as well as hosting and moderating a variety of big screen events around the city, covering film in all its forms is just a way of life for him.
