La Mala Educacion is a tremendous film that ranks high not only in 2004 but in Almodovar’s filmography.

| Feb 20, 2024

There is a lot of value here, I like the conversations on performance and repression, but there was just something here that was missing for me.

| Jan 20, 2024

[Almodóvar manipulates] reality into a passionate, masterful orchestration that begs an encore viewing.

| May 25, 2022

A good portion of Almodovar's success must be attributed to the performances of Gael Garcia Bernal in a trio of roles and Fele Martinez.

| Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 2, 2020

The voluminous subplots of Bad Education are never overburdening and help add nuance to the film's commentary.

| Apr 29, 2020

Few other films this year are likely to match this combination of formal beauty, narrative playfulness and heartfelt personal feeling.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 18, 2019

The problem with the film is its very staginess -- it never really seems to get out of drag. Between the impersonations of the priesthood, the impersonations of the transvestites and the impersonations of the actors themselves, there is little to choose.

| Jan 9, 2018

If Americans are allowed to see this film they may well conclude that the mature Almodvar is now ready to take his place alongside the great Buuel.

| Jun 18, 2012

Tragic story of church's betrayal; adults only.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 2, 2011

A dazzling autobiographical blend of Almodovar's career, childhood, and adoration & admiration for the cinema.

| Original Score: 85/100 | Sep 25, 2009

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 27, 2007

Like a Chinese box, it has layers under layers, fictions within fictions. A mystery and an intricate triangular love story, it's also a tale about storytelling itself, the uses of art and artifice to make the unbearable bearable.

| Nov 1, 2007

In accounting for Almodvar's identity as an artist and a man, Bad Education comes together like a bold and far-reaching summation of his career to date.

Full Review | Sep 26, 2005

...Almodovar's meta-movie teases us with Big Ideas about those of us who love our fantasies so much that we turn them into our realities.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 20, 2005

An original story told by one of the best contemporary filmmakers, Bad Education is a mesmerizing movie experience.

| Original Score: A | Apr 8, 2005

Almodovar's transitions in tone and mood are so slyly executed it's only afterward that the viewer realizes how much ground this ambitious, brain-teasing movie has covered.

| Mar 24, 2005

Almodovar is that rarest of filmmakers -- one whose work becomes more daring with each film.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Mar 17, 2005

It's really a greatest hits compilation of Almodovar's own work - all the standout tracks are here, but with none of the context and soul afforded by those connective numbers.

Full Review | Mar 8, 2005

It's a fascinating film that goes off in so many directions that the viewer may have a hard time getting a handle on it.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 8, 2005

It still exerts an uncanny power: Like the best of Almodvar's work, it throws you a first-love sucker punch that will stagger your heart, mind, and soul.

| Feb 27, 2005