'All About My Mother'

Pedro Almodovar has become a can't-miss director and writer in my book. Of the films of his I've seen, there's not a one that I haven't really liked or even loved.

Some pretty common themes for the filmmaker hinge mainly on relationships with mothers and female members of family like aunts and sisters.

As in All About My Mother, the characters find themselves in mother-like relationship to fulfill certain emotional needs in people's hearts.

There's also a fair amount of transsexuals or even very masculine women.

According to Almodavor, all of his films have an "autobiographical dimension." I don't know if he was akin to associating with a ton of transsexuals, I'm sure there's something about his past and formative years that have some complicated, misplaced or pleasant memory or representation of women and females. Each film is a peek into Almodavor's own little psyche and that is probably draining for a director.

Either way, I celebrate the man's entire catalog. A true auteur.