Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This film is just a childish romantic film that goes along the lines of "if you pull your crush's hair enough times & beat her up, she'll eventually love you". I know apologists these days push this as an ironic take on heterosexual relationships. Actually it's not that deep, you can clearly see the director was trying for a sexy,romantic film with placing camera under the skirts & invoking sympathy for our kidnapping hero. Also if you check back to the days of it's release, you could see it was considered just another romantic comedy. It's only because of the rise of feminism & countless stories of kidnap-victims going public, they changed the tone. Waste of time.

Finally saw one of the films of Pedro Almodovar it this work which was rightfully called "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" As it's a good little take and spin on getting happiness and returning to it after being lonely and put away like the movies central character Ricky. Anyway Antonio Banderas is Ricky a former prisoner and put away mental patient who once had a one night stand with Marina(Victoria Abril)a now sexy porn movie star. As being put away for many years Ricky has developed an unhealthy obsession for Marina as he wants as soon as he gets out to hook back up with her and marry her! So upon release Ricky takes Marina hostage almost like a kidnap victim a damsel in distress, the scenes are funny and dark with Marina being tied up and having her mouth taped with duct tape all while resting in bed! This all leads to a crazy romance and once again some very hot and passionate steam like sex! All of this now leads to escape for both. Overall not everyone's cup of tea still this picture is provocative and a hot twisted take on love and obsession, so if that kind of thing is your poison taste then give this work a watch.

"¡Atame!" or the English title "Tie me up! Tie me Down!" is one of the best works that i have seen of Almodovar. Is a funny, fresh and daring comedy. With beautiful music, "¡Atame!" is the clever story of Ricky, a crazy man who needs true love. He is obsessed with Marina, a porn star. And now he decides to kidnapped her and make anything and she can love him.This movie is an amusing and maybe different of all that Almodovar do. Of course has the touch of his movies, but this one it stands out of the little number that i see of him. With Antonio Banderas like the crazy man and Victoria Abril, that i see last time in "Tacones Lejanos", "¡Atame! is a story of wishes and desire. A story of how the an human been can meet another human been. You can say: "I will never belong to that person" and the next day you can be in love of that person. And i hope that don't misinterpret me... i mean, kidnap a person is a bad thing, and i don't support him. But, of course we sometimes reject persons that could be our person. "¡Atame!" has too an interesting perspective of the direction of a film. The movie talks about the end of a movie maker. A movie maker that just want do his last work good, before dies. Maybe is a fright or is an aspiration that directors has, because they don't want that the work be bad, they want a perfect movie, just like this character. A fright that all of we must give to face, no matter our aspirations or work."¡Atame!" is a great comedy that we must take like fun and of course like a teaching.*Sorry for the mistakes... well, if there any

Minor Almodovar it may be but this early, black comedy-thriller still takes no prisoners with it's relentless tale of obsession, (obsession is something Almodovar seems to be obsessed with). The Hitchcockian motifs are still there, as are his (too) obvious love of cinema and a totally exaggerated riot of colour which, in this case, completely transcends camp.Antonio Banderas is the young 'hero' recently released from a mental institution who kidnaps junkie and porn-star Victoria Abril in the hope that if she gets to know him up close and personal she may even fall in love with him. It's a bit like "The Collector" with the gloves off. There is something faintly Neanderthal-like in Banderas' assumption that slapping a woman around and tying her up is going to make her fall for him and Almodovar tickles our sensibilities by going down a few dark streets other directors wouldn't dream off.Both Banderas and, in particular, Abril are terrific. When they finally do get down and dirty and do the business there is a genuinely erotic charge in their acting and there is just enough ambiguity in the ending to give the film that extra edge.