Strange Way of Life is Pedro Almodóvar’s newest Western, starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke as friends and, as we soon come to learn, ex-lovers. As soon as I heard it was coming out, I was ecstatic. I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t love Pedro Pascal, and I never want to. Getting to watch him alongside my all-time favorite actor, Ethan Hawke, in a gay cowboy Western no less, was the highlight of my week.
I started the movie ready to see them both and was shocked to find it was only a half-hour long. I wondered, “what could they possibly deliver in 30 minutes?” Yet Almodóvar doesn’t let the time constraint limit him, although he does have to start packing his punches very early. We’ve known the main characters for hardly a minute before we get hints of their romantic past. Their relationship doesn’t feel forced,in fact, you’re actually begging for something to be said about the heavy tension between the leads. Every scene following is done with a unique beauty and passion that truly connects you to the characters.
We’re presented with just a snippet of Silva (Pedro Pascal) and Jake’s (Ethan Hawke) lives together. We know little of their past, little of their present, and nothing of their future. The ambiguous ending luckily isn’t a bury-your-gays situation, it’s just open-ended. In a post-Heartstopper world, I think we’re always due for a reminder of how varied queer experiences can actually be, especially when it comes to representing older generations of the community. Strange Way of Life strays from the norms we’re used to and delivers a gritty and real depiction of queer love in the late 19th century.
I don’t give out five-star ratings on my Letterboxd often, not even to Ethan Hawke movies (hey, they’re not all Dead Poets Society, sometimes they’re Mystery Date). However, Strange Way of Life undoubtedly deserves it.