Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Strange Way of Life is a sensual, melancholy Western short that reunites Silva, a rancher, and Jake, a town sheriff, twenty-five years after they shared a passionate affair as young gunslingers. When Silva rides across the desert to visit Jake, the reunion at first seems tender—reminiscent of love left behind—but quickly darkens as buried secrets resurface and duty collides with desire.
Set in a gorgeously stylized frontier world and starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke, the film plays like a poetic reversal of Brokeback Mountain, exploring themes of masculinity, longing, and the strange, stubborn way love lingers—even when it can’t be lived out loud.
Strange Way of Life (2023) is Almodóvar’s queer Western elegy: short in length, long in feeling, and blazing with unspoken fire