Friday, December 18, 2009
PHOTOS |
COMING SOON|
EXAMINER.COM FILM ARTICLES
||HOME
Friday, December 18, 2009
MOVIE REVIEW
Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos)
Realms Of Sensuality And Emotion, Via Wounded Eye
Blanca Portillo as Judit and
Lluís Homar as Mateo/Harry in Pedro Almodóvar's new film "Broken
Embraces". Sony
Classics
By Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
Friday, December 18, 2009
The muse is still Cruz.
Pedro and Penélope. Pedro Almodóvar's latest drama "Broken Embraces" isn't
his very best but any Almodóvar film is better than many filmmakers' best
efforts. The film opened today in San Francisco at the
Clay Theater and elsewhere, expanding everywhere next Friday, with its
continuing run in New York and Los Angeles.
Set in Spain, "Broken Embraces" chronicles memories of a vibrant life of love
and passion before blindness. These episodes are experienced by Mateo
Blanco, a film director-turned-writer (Lluís Homar). So wounded is Mateo
that he goes by a written character's name, Harry Cain (read: hurricane).
The woman etched in Harry's fond memories is Lena (Ms. Cruz), a secretary and
actress with whom he had a torrid love affair in the mid-1990s. Lena is
currently married to Ernesto (José Luis Gómez), a businessman 30 years her
senior. Harry meanwhile, has a son, Diego (Tamar Novas) and an agent,
Judit (Blanca Portillo). And there's a mysterious young man named Ray X
(think X-Ray) played by Ruben Ochandiano, who desperately wants to make a film
with Harry, who looks worn down by his own disability.
Mr. Almodóvar fills his colorful visual canvas with deep emotion and swirling,
vigorous passion, all well-executed in the camerawork (beautiful cinematography
by Rodrigo Prieto) and direction to such a degree that it's occasionally
disturbing. In one scene for example, two bodies writhe around trapped
beneath white sheets as if dead souls or ghosts; invisible and close yet very
far away, both from each other and the audience.
And "Broken Embraces" represents just that -- a contradiction between emotional
closeness and endless distance. Each character has a sensory impairment,
whether real or symbolic, representing the inability to either pull away from or
get close to someone who means more to them than they know. Mr. Almodóvar,
like his actors, keeps us very close but often far away in numerous moments,
some of them tragic, others electric with spontaneity, but all of them effective
in creating mood. The camera, as well as character, captures fractured
emotion, truncating and filtering it cleverly.
The push-pull dynamic of intimacy and longing in "Broken Embraces" is more
interesting than frustrating (even with the film's frequent flashbacks to the
mid-1990s and forward to 2008). This discordant rhythm of fragments serves
to percolate the drama that Almodóvar films are packed with. You get the
feeling however, that several characters are left behind or made peripheral
spectators until the tricky melodramatic climax in the third act, which has
trouble selling its justification to the audience. As a result the story's
resolution feels sudden and forced.
Nonetheless, you can tell that "Broken Embraces" is one of Mr. Almodóvar's most
deeply personal efforts, evidence of a love letter to his favorite collaborator.
The parallels between the filmmaker and Harry, a man trying to complete his
final film but so smitten with his leading lady that he can't see straight, are
telling. Through scenes melancholic and sanguine film references dot the
landscape. Simply put -- and to no one's surprise -- Mr. Almodóvar loves
cinema and his native Spain.
Penélope Cruz does a fine job as Lena and Mr. Almodóvar makes her iconic,
bringing her into the guise of Audrey Hepburn in several montage shots. He
dresses her in red, his favorite color (ala Bergman) and she does the rest.
Ms. Cruz looks more a woman than a girl here, and watching her you feel she's
matured in both body and performance. Less a center of the film than the
object of it, Ms. Cruz leaves a memorable imprint. Lluís Homar is great as
Mateo/Harry, his intoned narration echoing a sense of tragedy over his
circumstances rather than regret.
Above all though, Alberto Iglesias' beautiful music score is the real star of
"Broken Embraces". It's hard to remember a score so beautiful, soothing
and haunting as this one. Listening to it as the closing credits arrive is
mandatory.
With: Ángela Molina, Chus Lampreave, Kiti Manver, Lola Dueñas, Mariola Fuentes,
Carmen Machi, Kira Miró, Rossy de Palma, Alejo Sauras.
"Broken Embraces" (Los Abrazos Rotos) is rated R by the Motion Picture
Association of America for sexual content, language and some drug material.
In Spanish language with English subtitles. The film's running time is two
hours and seven minutes.
Trailer:
"Broken Embraces"
Read more movie reviews and stories from Omar
here.
PHOTOS |
COMING SOON|
EXAMINER.COM FILM ARTICLES
||HOME