Jay and I had just finished our lunch in the tiny, hidden away Taberna Almendros 13 (thin fried potatoes dappled with egg and ham; a sesame bread ring filled with charcutería), and as we were so close to the art nouveau cinema that had featured memorably in Almodóvar’s film, Talk to Her, I had to see it. (Jay declined the opportunity.) It was stunning in its decorative boldness, all the more so for being surrounded by the glum industriousness of what seemed like Madrid’s Chinatown. Other Almodóvar sites on our visit: the Plaza Mayor and a Roca toilet shop (The Flower of My Secret), an office building on Paseo de la Castellana (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), a former drug-filled Chueca plaza (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!), the modern Segovia prison (Talk to Her) and -- does this qualify? -- La Bardemcilla, the Chueca restaurant owned by the family of Javier Bardem whose menu items are each named after his film roles (Live Flesh, Jamón Jamón, etc.) Alas, we did not cross paths with Penélope Cruz...not for lack of trying.
I am going to Barcelona this year and would love to have as rich an experience as you had in Madrid :)
ReplyDeleteAnd then there's the Lexington Flick. The companionable Trixy and I saw THE KINGS SPEECH there recently. Or I should say we saw everything but the climactic speech. The projector kept breaking down every 10 mminutes. Finally, with only 10 minutes left of the movie and the King poised before the microphone, the film broke and the audience was dismissed. Would this have been allowed to occur at Cinema Dore? I doubt it.
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