Broken Embraces

THE SCOOP
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Plot: Harry Caine, a blind writer, reaches this moment in time when he has to heal his wounds from 14 years back. He was then still known by his real name, Mateo Blanco, and directing his last movie.

Genre: Drama/Romance/Thriller
Awards: Nom. for 1 Golden Globe - best foreign language feature. Nom. for Golden Palm (Cannes).
Runtime: 127min
Rating: M18 for sexual content, language and some drug material.

IN RETROSPECT
Any new film by the great Pedro Almodovar is always greeted with anticipation. Often regarded as the most talented filmmaker to come out of Spain since Luis Bunuel, Almodovar’s films very rarely perform at the box office. But his constant collaboration with his muse and Spain’s best known acting export, Penelope Cruz, has resulted in an increase (albeit a slow one) in followers.

In the running for 2009’s Palme d’Or, Broken Embraces tells the fictional story of a blind scriptwriter whose last film, Girls and Suitcases, shot and directed by him more than a decade ago, caused him personal and professional tragedy. I will not go into the details of what happened because Almodovar will skillfully show you how. He reveals bit by bit by splitting the film’s narrative into two timelines – the present and the past.

The “present” narrative strand asks questions and invokes intrigue in part of the viewer while the “past” answers them coherently and logically. This technique engages the viewer to partake in the mystery behind the tragedy of Mateo Blanco, the aforementioned blind filmmaker who now goes by the name Harry Caine. Where then, you may ask, does Cruz fit into the picture?

Cruz plays Lena who lands the lead role in Girls and Suitcases after a nervy audition. She attracts Mateo and they have an affair together to the suspicion of her boss (and producer of Mateo’s film) who also has a sexual relationship with her. Lena’s boss sends his homosexual son to spy on them, creating a tense situation both on and off set.

Almodovar balances this melodrama with elements of a mystery-thriller. In one scene in which a woman is pushed down the stairs by a man, the Spanish director pays homage to Hitchcock by using high and low angle shots that capture the sinister act in a morbidly suspenseful style. There is also a visual reference to Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist (1982) late in the film that is haunting but not in a frightening kind of way.

Broken Embraces is not as powerful as Volver (2006), Almodovar’s previous film, but it is also not the disappointment that many critics claimed it to be. It is still a decent picture with much to appreciate, one of which is the color tone used. Almodovar’s trademark visual flourishes remain intact; his fetish for rich, bright colors like red and yellow saturate radiantly many of the scenes with Cruz in it.

The final twenty minutes may be long-winded with a “film-in-a-film” sequence that lasts longer than it should, apparently contributing to the cause. Some would read it as a personal homage to the Almodovar of the 90s as if the director is questioning the intrinsic nature of film to capture moments of the past forever. Broken Embraces may not be a milestone in Spanish cinema, but in the oeuvre of Almodovar’s works, it finds itself a quite respectable spot.

SCORE: 8/10
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Last updated: 2010-05-30 02:46:45 by eternality_tan

****

Too much plot and uncharacteristically clunky exposition gets in the way of any instinct to latch this lush, dizzying confection onto Almodovar’s staggering run of masterpieces from 1999’s All About My Mother through to 2006’s Volver. Here, Pedro builds the [soap-]operatic melodrama so worshipfully, breathlessly around Penelope Cruz’s blinding star persona that when she is off-screen for hefty portions of the film’s closing half-hour, things begin to really sag. Furthermore, it’s a harsher film than we are used to getting from Almodovar – it doesn’t give into the enveloping emotional payoff that we have come to expect. What it does offer is a restless, velvety, haunting thrill ride with regular flashes of movie-drunk genius. That, and plllenty of Penelope.

Director Pedro Almodovar knows what women want. And ever since "Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," he's been giving it to us.

Penelope Cruz is back in his new flick after her boffo performance in "Volver" and she steals the show in this twisting, swirling love story mystery about raging jealousy, raging ambition and raging lust. (Oh, yes, he knows what men want, too.)

As usual with Almodovar, there's nothing tepid on the screen. Zoom, don't walk, to your nearest theater and while you're at it, do rent "High Heels," the Movie Sluts fave Almodovar flick.

See you at the movies, The Movie Slut

I actually haven't seen many of Pedro Almodovar's films, but the few that I have seen have always been really good. Added to that list is now "Los abrazos rotos" ("Broken Embraces"), focusing on a man's coming to terms with the relationships that he has had with people.

The main character is writer Mateo Blanco (Lluis Homar), who has been going by the name Harry Caine ever since he lost his sight. A woman who helped Harry across the street reads him the obituaries and he learns that businessman Ernesto Martel (Jose Luis Gomez) has died. So begins a series of unpleasant memories for Harry. The two men collaborated on a movie in which Ernesto's secretary/mistress Lena Rivas (Penelope Cruz) acted. But when the then-Mateo and Lena struck up a relationship, it eventually led to irreversible consequences.

Aside from merely looking at Harry's past, there's also focus on each character's relationship with each other, such as Ernesto's relationship with his gay son. The end sums up Harry's determination to right the wrongs that have collected ever since the sequence of events started.

As always, Almodovar does a great job developing the characters, particularly Harry's publicist Judit (Blanca Portillo). There's also some fine shots of Spain's Mediterranean coast and the accompanying landscape (at first I mistook it for someone's roof!). But above all else, this movie along with "Volver" show that Penelope Cruz (known as Almodovar's muse) has done her best work in her native country. To be certain, I've seen "Abre los ojos" ("Open Your Eyes") but have no desire to see the American remake. I definitely recommend "Broken Embraces". Also starring Lola Duenas, Angela Molina, Rossy de Palma, Tamar Novas and Ruben Ochandiano.

PS: Recently, Spanish horror star Paul Naschy (who always played werewolf Waldemar Daninsky) died. I wonder what the result would have been had he and Pedro Almodovar collaborated on a movie.

Vincent Snavely