Resurrected and rechristened; Munro and Almodóvar

So I've decided to resurrect this blog, and rechristen it as a blog about the narrative arts. Which is really just a pretentious way of saying that I'll be focusing on pieces I've read or I've seen. Most of these will be fictional accounts of course, so novels and movies, but I'm also interested in narrative non-fiction, whether in text (e.g. long-form narrative essays/articles) or film form. I have more than enough outlet at work for any sort of bioethics/health/policy what-have-you, and this isn't really a great medium for that kind of discussion anyway, except as it relates to the idea of narrative. So I'll be editing what's on this blog accordingly.

So, now that I've got the boring part out of the way, I was just thinking about Alice Munro and Pedro Almodóvar. I have more exposure to Munro than Almodóvar, but I think there's a kinship in their work. I'll write more later, but in short, I think they are both great at non-judgmental portrayals of real, flawed, complicated women, and I kind of love that about both of them. (In Almodóvar's case, these portrayals are even affectionate; I haven't decided with Munro, though there is definitely a warm respect). Plus, there is a combination of sensational events, coincidence, and irony in their character-driven plots, but somehow their stories don't seem overly dramatic or sentimental.

ETA: So I googled to see if there was anything linking Almodóvar and Munro, and it looks like Almodóvar was reading her while writing the script for his current movie, Broken Embraces. In fact, he says that he wrote the script "in the shadow of" Hateship, Friendship... and Runaway (he even said he would love to film a story in this!). I wanted to see Embraces before, but I guess I have extra reason to now.