January 15, 2007
Volver
Vibrant melodrama that continues the Spanish auteur's exploration of women
Starring: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura
Rating: 7/10
Directed By: Pedro Almodovar
Runtime: 121 minutes
Starring: Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura
Rating: 7/10
Directed By: Pedro Almodovar
Runtime: 121 minutes
For cineastes there are few things as satisfying as a new Pedro Almodovar movie. It's an event to be relished and consumed like a five star meal. With their vivid colors and beautiful Spanish actresses, Almodovar's films are always a visual feast. Unlike most "visual" directors, Almodovar is not content to just fill his films with style and no substance. His films are stocked with fascinating characters who speak fascinating dialogue while an assortment of bizarre events transpires around them. You don't watch an Almodovar movie so much as you experience it. It's never a question of whether or not an Almodovar film is good but where it ranks among his canon of films. With that being said, Volver ranks somewhere towards the bottom of Almodovar's efforts ranking somewhere above Bad Education but well below his greatest efforts like Women On The Verge Of a Nervous Breakdown and Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down. One of Volver's biggest problems is one that afflicts his lesser works and that is his lack of any narrative structure. Although his films tend to be excuses to build an impressive ensemble, his best films have a narrative drive that his more recent films tend to lack. Even his earliest works, such as Matador, possess a tighter structure even if they lacked the humor and heart present in his later works.
The film is about Raimunda (played brilliantly by Penelope Cruz), a loving mother, a decent sister and an unappreciative daughter. To identify any plot beyond this vague description would be almost impossible as the film contains four films worth of plots and never really identifies one as its main plotline. Without settling on one plot, the film seems to ramble and can feel overlong (especially in the film's last half hour when this viewer had wrongfully assumed the main plot had been brought to a satisfactory close).
This review might lead you to believe that I didn't enjoy Volver but nothing could be further from the truth. As I state earlier in this review, an Almodovar film is always a cherished event and even a flawed one is a great way to spend two hours.
The film is about Raimunda (played brilliantly by Penelope Cruz), a loving mother, a decent sister and an unappreciative daughter. To identify any plot beyond this vague description would be almost impossible as the film contains four films worth of plots and never really identifies one as its main plotline. Without settling on one plot, the film seems to ramble and can feel overlong (especially in the film's last half hour when this viewer had wrongfully assumed the main plot had been brought to a satisfactory close).
This review might lead you to believe that I didn't enjoy Volver but nothing could be further from the truth. As I state earlier in this review, an Almodovar film is always a cherished event and even a flawed one is a great way to spend two hours.