8. Pedro Almodovar
Internationally renowned director Pedro Almadovar, is, like the rest of the directors on the list, adventurous in his films and the themes that he tackles - never shying away from controversy. He tends to dabble with very complex narratives, melodrama and he possesses a twisted sense of humour. His filmography is vast and diverse so I will just pick a few tasters of Almodovar's most buccaneering moments. Matador was one of Almadovor's early works. It concerns the lives of two perverts - a man and a woman - both obsessed with killing and death. The film is notable for its opening sequence - the pervert man masturbating over kill scenes from films by Mario Bava and Jess Franco. Eventually when the perverts finally find each other - massively transgressive sex is on the cards. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! features Victoria Abril as an actress and Antonio Banderas as an obsessed fan with severe mental health problem. He kidnaps the actress so she will fall in love with him and the film tracks the strange relationship between the two that develops. The fact that Almodovar has the actress developing feelings for her kidnapper provoked the ire of feminists and caused a storm in America where it is rated NC-17. In 2004's Bad Education, Almodovar's pioneering spirit led him to tackle the subject of homosexual love between two young boys at a strict Catholic school in the 1960s. The film deals with child molestation, sexual abuse by Priests and transsexualism. Almodovar was adventurous with weaving film noir elements into the film and it opened the 57th Cannes Festival - the first Spanish film to ever open the festival. Almodovar is a very hard working director who likes to dabble with difficult subjects. It is hard to think of a 'bad' Almodovar film because he is so consistently interesting. It is the ability Almodovar has of tackling any subject given to him that makes him a buccaneering film director.