Now this title of my review is actually the title of another movie thatw as just like this one here written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, but the description also fits the one we got here without a doubt. But first things first: Volver is a Spanish Spanish-language movie from 2006, so almost 15 years old now, and it runs for pretty much exactly two hours and features some of Spain's most know actresses from the last decades, many of which have worked with Almodóvar on other occasions too. The director won for his screenplay at Cannes and in a bit of an unusual decision the Palme d'Or for Best Actress was given to the female ensemble cast here there too. Penélope Cruz carried on with this attention and managed her first of so far three Oscar nominations, but it was not her big breakthrough film or so, even if she was " only 30 when it was made, but she appeared on Hollywood films before that too, but the awards recognition she and the film itself received speak for themselves for sure. However, the one category where it lost out a bit surprisingly was the Foreign Language Feature Oscar, where it made the list of nine, but did not become one of the five eventual nominees, which may have had to do with the fantasy aspectg for a while where you could think that one character is beakc from the dead indeed as some kind of spirit before the eventual explanation. Or that the Academy deemed the film not realistic enough. Or too much comedy who knows.
Now lets take a look at the film itself. There is so much going on here really, almost too much for two hours. So no surprise that some parts that could have resulted in major story lines like the accidental killing of one character, a girl finding out who he real father is (not) or a potential romance story line between Cruz' character and somebody else were not really elaborated on any further. I think Almódovar effortlessly could have turned this 120-minute movie into a 180-minute movie without a problem. But he didn't and that is alright too. Also he worked with composer Iglesias already, just like he did in his very recent Banderas movie. But we talked about that one already, now back to this one here. As always with Almodóvar, sets, character writing and colors are his strong suite. With colors I am once again referring to this mesmerizing use of cold (swimming-pool like) blue and vivid (really here) red used together for example. This happened here in the blood cleaning scene in the kitchen. And even after horrible events like this, the writer will not forget about the comedy aspect. I mean when we see Cruz standing there at the door talking to the guy (was he the girl's real father or is that one really dead? probably the latter as I feel the mother is not one to lie to her daughter) and joking about how the blood on her skin is a woman's thing making a reference to her menstruation. Now how did that get up there though? Okay, there are many other funny moments, like repeated talk about how the husband is not coming back most likely and how Cruz says it. Or before she reunites with her mother, already the idea of the young girl pointing to under the bed where she is hiding has a great deal of situational comedy to it. Or the whole Russian idea at the barber's shop and everything that comes with it. So also as always with Almodóvar, you will smile or even laugh a lot watching this film and that is never a good thing. But in the face of that, ot must also be said that this is a really dramatic movie too. Many many death references. A man gets killed while trying to sexually abuse a teenager. An old woman dies. I guess the characters really have a better eye than we do because she seemed so fine to me. Another character is terminally ill. We find out about a background story as explanation about a woman who killed her unfaithful man and his lover in an act of jealousy. Now that was really heavy and even if emotional act somewhat explains (not justifies) it, even legally, it's tough to like her after that happened and even after she agrees to be there for the dying other woman now. Pedro sure did his best to make her seem likable too despite the horrible crime she commited a long time ago. And after all, she paid herself for it all the way too for going in hiding and missing out on so much about her family and seeing them grow up. This is really not a film about perfect families or anything as you also see already from when they visit the old lady early on that she apparently did not even remember the young girl's name being the name she carries too or she has just gotten a bit senile, but I don't know. They don't seem too close initially.
Overall, another good Almodóvar film and it really says a lot positive about him that there is nothing in his body of work apparently that is weak or disappointing. A very steady and reliable filmmaker who definitely has his own style too and I like that the most about him perhaps, also that he always gets quality performances out of all his actors. And "all of" means really quite a few because his ensembles are normally fairly big unlike the way it is in his new movie. This one here clearly focuses on all the females and the males do not really get away in a likable manner. Take the husband and what he wants to do with the young girl, Irene's husband and what he did while leading everybody into believing he really loved her or the slightly simple guy from the movie set and his rather vain love interest in Cruz' character. The powerful and reliable and dominant (also in terms of quantity) characters here are only the females. But that is alright. It sure does not give off a vibe that Pedro despises males. He has proved he doesn't on many other occasions, such as the new slightly autobiographic movie he has out these days in which he proves that he is also a very talented writer when it comes to male-centered stories. But as for this one we got here, I enjoyed the watch overall. I think the awards recognition may be a bit too much overall, but it is also not entirely undeserving because while the truly great moments may be lacking, this film from 13 years ago offers many solid inclusions of heart, tragedy, emotion, comedy and character writing. I think you should check it out and of course make sure you have a good set of subtitles unless you are fluent in Spanish.
Now lets take a look at the film itself. There is so much going on here really, almost too much for two hours. So no surprise that some parts that could have resulted in major story lines like the accidental killing of one character, a girl finding out who he real father is (not) or a potential romance story line between Cruz' character and somebody else were not really elaborated on any further. I think Almódovar effortlessly could have turned this 120-minute movie into a 180-minute movie without a problem. But he didn't and that is alright too. Also he worked with composer Iglesias already, just like he did in his very recent Banderas movie. But we talked about that one already, now back to this one here. As always with Almodóvar, sets, character writing and colors are his strong suite. With colors I am once again referring to this mesmerizing use of cold (swimming-pool like) blue and vivid (really here) red used together for example. This happened here in the blood cleaning scene in the kitchen. And even after horrible events like this, the writer will not forget about the comedy aspect. I mean when we see Cruz standing there at the door talking to the guy (was he the girl's real father or is that one really dead? probably the latter as I feel the mother is not one to lie to her daughter) and joking about how the blood on her skin is a woman's thing making a reference to her menstruation. Now how did that get up there though? Okay, there are many other funny moments, like repeated talk about how the husband is not coming back most likely and how Cruz says it. Or before she reunites with her mother, already the idea of the young girl pointing to under the bed where she is hiding has a great deal of situational comedy to it. Or the whole Russian idea at the barber's shop and everything that comes with it. So also as always with Almodóvar, you will smile or even laugh a lot watching this film and that is never a good thing. But in the face of that, ot must also be said that this is a really dramatic movie too. Many many death references. A man gets killed while trying to sexually abuse a teenager. An old woman dies. I guess the characters really have a better eye than we do because she seemed so fine to me. Another character is terminally ill. We find out about a background story as explanation about a woman who killed her unfaithful man and his lover in an act of jealousy. Now that was really heavy and even if emotional act somewhat explains (not justifies) it, even legally, it's tough to like her after that happened and even after she agrees to be there for the dying other woman now. Pedro sure did his best to make her seem likable too despite the horrible crime she commited a long time ago. And after all, she paid herself for it all the way too for going in hiding and missing out on so much about her family and seeing them grow up. This is really not a film about perfect families or anything as you also see already from when they visit the old lady early on that she apparently did not even remember the young girl's name being the name she carries too or she has just gotten a bit senile, but I don't know. They don't seem too close initially.
Overall, another good Almodóvar film and it really says a lot positive about him that there is nothing in his body of work apparently that is weak or disappointing. A very steady and reliable filmmaker who definitely has his own style too and I like that the most about him perhaps, also that he always gets quality performances out of all his actors. And "all of" means really quite a few because his ensembles are normally fairly big unlike the way it is in his new movie. This one here clearly focuses on all the females and the males do not really get away in a likable manner. Take the husband and what he wants to do with the young girl, Irene's husband and what he did while leading everybody into believing he really loved her or the slightly simple guy from the movie set and his rather vain love interest in Cruz' character. The powerful and reliable and dominant (also in terms of quantity) characters here are only the females. But that is alright. It sure does not give off a vibe that Pedro despises males. He has proved he doesn't on many other occasions, such as the new slightly autobiographic movie he has out these days in which he proves that he is also a very talented writer when it comes to male-centered stories. But as for this one we got here, I enjoyed the watch overall. I think the awards recognition may be a bit too much overall, but it is also not entirely undeserving because while the truly great moments may be lacking, this film from 13 years ago offers many solid inclusions of heart, tragedy, emotion, comedy and character writing. I think you should check it out and of course make sure you have a good set of subtitles unless you are fluent in Spanish.