An aging Spanish director revisits his life and work in Pain and Glory (Dolor y gloria), the latest film from Pedro Almodóvar, screening at BUFS this Thursday at 7 p.m.

After four decades of filmmaking, Salvador Mallo has mostly withdrawn into his lonely apartment due to debilitating illness. A chance encounter leads to a visit with an estranged colleague, which leads to some pain-killing experimentation and a dreamlike wander through all of the moments that led up to this one.

“If there were any doubts that Pedro Almodóvar wasn’t just a fun, idiosyncratic, indelible and significant filmmaker, but an undeniably great filmmaker — one for the ages — those doubts were dispelled with Julieta, his 2016 masterpiece,” said Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle. “And now there’s Pain and Glory to raise the possibility that, at 70, Almodóvar is in the midst of a magnificent flowering, that we’re witnessing the best period of his career.”

Star Antonio Banderas, wearing Almodóvar’s clothes in an apartment decorated with the director’s own furniture and art, gives what may be the performance of a lifetime — one that has already been recognized with Best Actor awards at Cannes and the Hollywood Film Awards.

Tickets for all BUFS shows are available at the Film House in the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre (PAC) on the evening of screenings. General admission is $9.50 or $7 for Film House members, plus tax. Free BUFS memberships are also available on screening nights.

Visit the BUFS web page for this season’s selection, with additional titles being added to the calendar as they are confirmed. Look for the red B that indicates a BUFS-hosted screening.

For more than 40 years, BUFS has been bringing the best in independent and art house cinema to the Niagara region. The society is supported by the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film in the Faculty of Social Sciences at Brock.