Looking for a love story with some substance beyond the twitter me today go tomorrow genre? Desire something more from the script than beer, bars, and banal bs banter and cheap pick up lines? On the lookout for some male and female characters with more on their menus than moronically manipulating your heart strings? Wanting some cinematography you can fall into without missing a single step? Then pick up Broken Embraces. Pedro Almodovar’s film making team delivers the real deal. Cruz is genuinely wonderful but she’s not the only reason to catch this movie gem. Tamar Novas is delightful as Diego, the personification of tender innocence with an undercurrent of integrity and emotional strength. Blanca Portillo is incredible as a woman hiding all sorts of secrets. LLouis Homar–well, it could be the great masculine role he’s playing or it could be his great acting or it could be his own innate intelligence in bringing this man to life with all his complexity–but whatever it is, I’m hard pressed to conjure up the name of a single American actor who could even dream of performing at the standard he sets in this film. And then there’s Jose Luis Gomez with the most expressive facial features ever—the man knows how to pull all his own physical strings for his acting bag to the utmost. His eyes tell volumes in Broken Embraces. And that’s not all there is to relish in this piece of film-making art. The trailer is a tease. I urge you to venture to the official movie site for some ‘fun’ playing with the designer’s presentation of the film. http://www.sonyclassics.com/brokenembraces/main.html
Oh and if you rent this on dvd–DO NOT MISS the special feature selection titled the Cannibalistic Councilor. OMG! LOL–I so hope this is lurking in someone’s braincase as full length feature film. Oh YES!
Other great films by Almodovar include Volver, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and All About My Mother.