Volver (2006)

Posted : 10 months, 1 week ago at Jan 17 12:15

Volver was nominated for over ninety awards, including an Oscar. It managed to take home forty-four prestigious awards internationally and it is easy to see why. The tale itself is a very simple one; a struggling family consisting mostly of women. The focus is on two sisters who lost their parents in a fire, one of which is married to a drunkard and has a daughter. On paper the tale makes for grim viewing and the suffering doesn’t stop, but it’s the resilience and fortitude of all the women in this film that keeps you gripped to the screen. This isn't a movie to share with a date, but it is certainly worth watching!

Rating : 8/10

Posted : 1 year, 2 months ago at Sep 21 17:48

''It smells of... farts, my mother's farts.'' After her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life. Penélope Cruz: Raimunda Director of Volver, Pedro Almodovar has captured the essence of female beauty with Volver, which in turn should probably be considered his greatest tribute to the female spirit. Volver is a tad vulgar at times in its determination to capture it's leading star Cruz's shining charisma and power, with camera angles shooting down necklines, revealing alot for our imagination's to run away. However, Penelope Cruz's powerful, touching performance anchors the film with profoundness and subtlety that overpowers any crude camera angle Almodovar can conjure. A sometimes limited actress in Holly...Read more

Rating : 8/10

Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago at Jul 11 1:04

Pedro Almodovar loves to make movies centered around mother-daughter relationships. The movie is a mix of drama and dark comedy, possibly his best movie next to 'Bad Education'. Penelope Cruz plays a woman whose parents died in a fire. The circumstances surrounding the incident are gradually revealed as the movie progresses, along with several complications in the lives of the women in the movie, ending in a surprising conclusion. Great acting backs up the director's masterful handling of the clever and well written script.

Rating : 10/10

Posted : 1 year, 8 months ago at Mar 16 16:43

After building his incredibilly successful career through productions focused basically on the feminine universe, Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (one of my all-time favorites), made in his last two films stories that are centered in an more masculin look, resulting on the great Talk to Her (Hable con ella) and the exceptional Bad Education(La Mala Educación). In Volver, however, Almodóvar returns to the world of women with his so very particular talent and sensibility, and in this process, he also returns to one of his most distinguisehd trademarks, his colors, whose intensity is equally proportional to the feelings that they represent. In a world which men are usually seen (logically) under a negative shine, Raimunda (Penelope Cruz, who should stick to Spanish cinema) is a hard-wo...Read more

Rating : 10/10

Posted : 2 years ago at Oct 29 9:32

A feminist tale, with Penelope Cruz a little too glamorous despite her wardrobe. A family coping with the loss of their mother come face to face with a ghost, who helps them put their lives back together. The gorgeous flamenco song of the title is sung by Estrella Morente.

Rating : 8/10