Fashion and Almodovar are two words that go hand and hand.  For those of you who don't know this Spanish master of cinema, it's sort of like John Waters and Robert Altman had a baby.  His signature high brow vulgarity addresses tabus from rape and incest to transvesticism and drug addiction.  Lesbian nuns addicted to heroine or transsexuals that marry their fathers are some of the leitmotifs that would make Russ Meyer blush.  It's way beyond Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.  

 

Besides launching the careers of Antonio Banderas, Rossi DePalma and Penelope Cruz, Almodovar's work has chronicled the fashion collections of Spanish designer Sybilla and French Couture house Chanel.  His lush films are like a time capsule of Spain's history and the history of humanity; chronicling the new found freedoms of Spain's post Franco Movida to Memphis and the AIDS crisis.

 

You can see a selection of 10 of Almodovar's films beginning with Women on the Verge of Nervous Breakdown and ending with his new release Volver.  The series which has already visited Los Angeles and New York runs at the Castro through September.  Check out the Castro Theatre's website for more information: