This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
Strange Way of Life may just be the most hyped short film I can remember. A western starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke? From Pedro Almodóvar, the acclaimed Spanish director and writer whose work has won several Academy Awards? Sign me up right now.
Needless to say, I couldn’t have been much more excited to be able to view Strange Way of Life.
The film opens with one of the best cold opens I have ever seen in a western film. Pascal’s character is seen riding into an old west town with the slow, brooding guitar track “Estranha forma de vida” by Caetano Veloso being strummed by a local guitarrista.
It’s an opener that absolutely oozes the type of western atmosphere that I so sorely desired from a film like this. It captures the essence of the film perfectly without ever needing to say anything.
Unfortunately, the rest of the film is really where things begin to suffer. Hawke and Pascal deliver strong, nuanced performances individually, but really don’t have a lot of chemistry together. Since they’re the crux of what this film is about, I was really hoping for better.
I do think the film dealt with the LGBTQ+ themes quite well. Having the main characters be gay was a wonderful way to craft the story. Both Hawke and Pascal perform their roles well in this regard: Hawke being the closeted, hard-nosed one and Pascal as the one who can accept who he is and be free worked well.
My biggest gripe, however, was truly in how short the film was. It really didn’t need to be only 31 minutes long. In fact, the film ends so abruptly it’s a bit jarring given that the story was really reaching its most interesting right when it cuts to black. I believe there is a full feature film in here, and hopefully Almodóvar ends up producing a feature length version of Strange Way of Life.
Final Thoughts
Strange Way of Life is a solid western that has a good atmosphere and solid individual performances from the lead actors. However, its plagued by its short runtime and a lack of chemistry between Hawke and Pascal. It’s still worth the watch solely for how digestible the runtime makes it, but you’ll be left disappointed and wanting more.
