Strange Way of Life

Strange Way of Life (Spanish: Extraña forma de vida) is a Spanish Western drama short film written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. It stars Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal as two gunslingers who reunite many years later. The film marks Almodóvar’s sophomore English-language effort, following The Human Voice (2020).

Strange Way of Life premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2023. It will be released in the United States on 6 October 2023 by Sony Pictures Classics.

Plot

After 25 years, Silva rides a horse across the desert to visit his friend Sheriff Jake. They celebrate the meeting, but the next morning, Jake tells him that the reason for his trip is not to go down the memory lane of their friendship.

Trailer

Cast

Ethan Hawke as Jake
Pedro Pascal as Silva
José Condessa as young Silva
Jason Fernández [es] as young Jake
Sara Sálamo as Conchita
Erenice Lohan as Clara
Pedro Casablanc as Carpenter
George Steane as Joe
Manu Ríos as singer
Oihana Cueto as Calixta
Daniela Medina as Patricia

Gallery

Production

Principal photography took place in Southern Spain in August 2022, in the Tabernas Desert section of Almería. A Strange Way of Life is the title of an old Portuguese fado song by Amália Rodrigues. The filming took place with Pedro Almodóvar’s own production company El Deseo in conjunction with Yves Saint Laurent, whose head designer Anthony Vaccarello was also an associate producer and the film’s costume designer. In September, Hawke confirmed, via Instagram, that the production had wrapped filming. Almódovar worked with recurring collaborators such as José Luis Alcaine (cinematography) and Alberto Iglesias (music) whilst Teresa Font took over film editing.

Speaking on the Dua Lipa podcast, the director was quoted as saying “it’s a queer Western, in the sense that there are two men, and they love each other. It’s about masculinity in a deep sense because the Western is a male genre. What I can tell you about the film is that it has a lot of the elements of the Western. It has the gunslinger, it has the ranch, it has the sheriff, but what it has that most Westerns don’t have is the kind of dialogue that I don’t think a Western film has ever captured between two men.”

Release

Strange Way of Life premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 17 May 2023. BTeam released the film in Spanish theatres on 26 May 2023Mubi is set to distribute the film in Italy and Latin America, while Pathé will release it in the United Kingdom. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in the United States on 6 October 2023 and will also be releasing it in all other markets excluding France, Belgium and Switzerland as well as markets already acquired by BTeam, Mubi and Pathé.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 24 critics’ reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.20/10. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described the film in his four-star review as “a queer western with a hint of kink”, adding that “there is some very robust and old-fashioned storytelling here and Strange Way of Life feels quite old-fashioned in its way.” Peter Debruge [de] of Variety called it “a glorified fashion commercial” for Yves Saint-Laurent, commenting that “the use of models instead of actors betrays what this really is: a branding exercise, both for Almodóvar and costumier Vaccarello, plus two stars eager to show their allyship.” Pete Hammond of Deadline praised Hawke and Pascal for bringing “authenticity and a believable lived-in feel to their characters and this relationship”, while David Fear of the Rolling Stone reviewed Strange Way of Life as “a provocative movie that brings out the best in both of its leads”

What They Said

from The Playlist May 17, 2023

Pedro Almodóvar has never done Westerns. Not unless you count the winks at “Johnny Guitar” in “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (1988) or “Duel in the Sun” in “Matador” (1985). Likely the most American and the most masculine of genres, the Western and the onscreen cowboy are foundational figures of manhood. It conjures up dusty landscapes, gruff cowboys, and plenty of repression.

However, Almodóvar famously came semi-close to making the “gay-cowboy” film “Brokeback Mountain” by Ang Lee, has talked about it with twinges of regret over the years, and seemingly looks to scratch that Western itch with his latest short.

So, in his second foray into filmmaking in the English language, following 2020’s short film “The Human Voice,” starring Tilda Swinton, Almodóvar recruits Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal in a short film that has just had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the Special Screenings section.

“Strange Way of Life” is an unusual proposition in Almodóvar’s filmography, usually centered on women, domestic spaces, and set in his native Spain. Here is a story about men who have purposely put a desert between them to deny their attraction to one another. The film begins with a lovers’ reunion, 25 years after their youthful tryst. Silva (Pascal) pays the Sheriff (Hawke) a visit to beg for leniency for his son, who has murdered the Sheriff’s sister-in-law. But before we get to the nasty business of murder, retribution, and the question of duty, there’s longing. With a glimpse of each other, their affair is reignited, and they spend the night together.

The film would not have worked without the palpable chemistry between Pascal and Hawke. Streaming superstar Pascal and American independent icon Hawke are polar opposite performers, a dichotomy used to the film’s advantage: Pascal’s Silva is nostalgic and puppy-eyed for a lust lost, while Hawke’s Sheriff Jake is steely and stiff, averting Silva’s gaze until he relaxes into it behind closed doors, a hearty stew and a bottle of wine. Excess – of alcohol, food, sex – gives the men permission to lean into their desires. Once drunk, they devour each other. A short flashback shows us that alcohol was always there for the two cowboys – their first kiss was under a torrent of red wine.

But in the morning, the closeness from the night before is gone. Instead, Silva is cloying and Sheriff Jake hides behind his obligations as a lawman. This conversation is the emotional centerpiece of the film. Produced in partnership with Saint Laurent, with the fashion house’s creative director Anthony Vacarrello in charge of the costumes, the film undresses the iconography of a Western. Silva, who appears first in his bright green jacket, wakes up half-naked and vulnerable after their tryst to find Jake, already dressed and hiding behind his Sheriff’s uniform.

“Strange Way of Life” is a queer take on a genre that has historically avoided explicitly centering gay love. There is ardor between Silva and Jake, heavy in each of their interactions, in their way of looking at each other and in their touch. The Western is a genre heavily concerned with duty and so the lovers have to separate, once more, in order to honor their respective obligations: Silva’s as a father, and Jake’s, as a sheriff. A shootout ensues, as the genre demands because men and their guns. However, Almodóvar is most interested in what happens in the room when the lovers are alone in a room together. That’s how we leave them, on a moment of conditional tenderness, with Silva taking care of a wounded Jake.

Where to See

It will be released in the United States on 6 October 2023 by Sony Pictures Classics.

Mubi Streaming Oct 20 2023 as of 08/06/2023

Strange Way of Life – 2023

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Strange Way of Life – 2023