PEDRO ALMODOVAR - ALMODOVAR HITS BACK AT TARANTINO'S CRITIQUE OF ITALIAN CINEMA

ALMODOVAR HITS BACK AT TARANTINO'S CRITIQUE OF ITALIAN CINEMA

LATEST: Spanish director PEDRO ALMODOVAR has hit back at QUENTIN TARANTINO's criticism of the modern Italian movie industry, insisting the U.S. filmmaker is "talking trash". The Kill Bill director is a well-known admirer of Italian cinema in the '60s and '70s, with a particular love of 'spaghetti' westerns and the giallo thriller genre, but he angered the nation when he recently claimed today's movies are "just depressing". Almodovar has now retaliated to Tarantino's controversial comments, and believes the American must not be aware of real filmmaking if he still holds the same opinion. He says, "Quentin is a good director, a passionate cinema enthusiast - and a great expert on all the world's trash. "I doubt he had the cinema of Luchino Visconti, Pietro Germi and Pier Paolo Pasolini in mind - and as for Italian filmmakers of today, I don't think he even knows who they are. "There are only two countries where I don't have to explain what putting passion into cinema means - Spain and Italy. These are cultures where emotion, instinct, the art of getting by and suffering to express talent are part of the national DNA."