Review of All About My Mother

Derived from several cinematic sources: the high-flown Hollywood style-over-substance ethos of Douglas Sirk and George Cukor; the psychosexual perversity of Alfred Hitchcock; the grubby transgressions of Warhol, "All About My Mother" is a lush sojourn into the banalities, crises and exoticism of a group of interconnecting Madrid women, the gender and identity of which the film ostensibly celebrates. Resplendent in its indelible, kaleidoscopic colour palette, the captivating theatrical pace, naturalistic yet demonstrative performances, hyper-realistic, sumptuous chronicle of transformation, deviation and altered states, from gender to family are propelled by authentic dialogue exchanges, visual exuberance and breezy situational, farcical comedy that can succeed tragedy. All of these themes and styles directly echo and correlate with Almodóvar's previous work, but unlike its more dramatic predecessors, "All About My Mother" is more vivid, perhaps driven by a need to design an artistic antidote to dramatic conceit, constructing an intoxicating series of acts that allow for a zealous new take on a forgotten film formula, whereby the scenery, characters and their interactions dominate the screen rather than the soapy plot; what unfolds is an accessible, distinctive, glossy modern melodrama that fully deserved its plaudits.