Bitter Christmas is Pedro Almodóvar’s 24th feature film over the course of 46 years. There’s never been more than a three-year gap between his releases. He won Cannes’ best director prize in the 1990s (All About My Mother), an Oscar for best screenplay in the 2000s (Talk to Her) and the Venice Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, just two years ago (The Room Next Door). With his latest movie, Bitter Christmas, the 76-year-old Spaniard remains on that restless trajectory, pushing himself deeper into uncharted territory — this time, by turning the camera back on himself. In fact, he does this within several sections of his cinematic…
