Broken Embraces

Broken Embraces

when it comes to Pedro Almodovar's cinema there's always an ocean of red and black combination.and of course Penelope Cruz beauty.as she ages it's like she gets more beautiful and dominates the silver screen.I find story telling a bit in a hurry.The crossings between events could be slower not sharp.there are some Hitchcockian moments like when two cars go one after another with headlights and the moment when Ernesto pushes Lena.director makes you feel like you are there among the characters but when director gets you out of there with scenes from above it's like you are dragged out of movie.towards the end plot gets unnecessarily complicated.do we really need to know that Mateo is Diego's true father? and when Mateo re-edits movie I expect a connection between movie's name,girls and suitcases, and the accident.It could be more Hitchcookian and exciting.

In my eyes this is one of Almodovar's best, just coming in behind Bad Education and talk to her, It has his usual brilliant directing and shot making, with his usual outstanding, hand and feet ahead, slightly over the top story, that follows through. It also has his usual bright and vibrant character and sets. One of those instant classics. A Spanish masterpiece, one for all to see and one of those 8.5/10 scores. It is not given the right justification in the trailer, and is much better than I had even expected, yet I know he is the Best Director(in my mind). It also has my favourite actress Penelope Cruz and also brilliant acting by all of the wrest of the cast, with a particularly outstanding performance by Lluís Homar.

It took a couple of viewings for me to fully appreciate Broken Embraces. Almodovar unravels the complex tale of Harry Caine with unusual skill and nuance. A times sublime - especially the use of Penelope Cruz on silent film while her flesh and blood speaks the lines - and other times hilarious - the film within film, Girls and Suitcases - this movie never overextends itself, perfectly unveiling layer after layer. All the performances hit the mark, Blanca Portillo in particular. Lluis Homar manages to sell his role, despite the difficulty of playing blind and seeing. As usual with Almodovar, the cinematography is spell-bending. The El Golfo beach shots perfectly capturing the disorienting predicaments of the main characters. If you've already watched Broken Embraces, watch it again. And then again. It remains fresh and intriguing yet reveals more and more gems with each viewing.

This is both a great film and a very enjoyable one. A masterful addition to the film-about-film genre, it is a homage to a number of other directors, a thriller, a melodrama but more than anything else, a wonderful studio tour completed by excursions into the cast and crew's (not so) private lives. It stands with Mikhalkov's A Slave of Love and Truffaut's Day For Night as a great achievement in the genre. I've liked a lot of Almadovar's work but this, I think, is his best. See it if you love cinema. Many will have noticed that Penelope Cruz's character's name, Magdalena, is a reference to Kim Novak's character in Vertigo, but one should also note that her occasional workname, Severine, is the name of Catherine Deneuve's character in Belle de Jour.

A beautiful homage to Hitchcock and Sirk, great acting and poetic writhing

So I watched broken embraces which was released in 2009 and directed by acclaimed Spanish film maker Pedro Almodovar. So is it good well yeah. Actually it was pretty great. It was surreal while not beating you over the head with it, kind of Fellini like in nature. The movie alludes to this, it also has a touch of Hitchcock in there as well. Penelope Cruz is great as she often is in Almodovar's films. The story is original and the acting is great. This is one of those movies intellectuals can grapple with and wax philosophic, while others can just enjoy if they either speak Spanish or can deal with subtitles. I highly recommend this movie. if you like concise reviews of interesting films please read my other reviews at http://raouldukeatthemovies.blogspot.com/

I was expecting something else from Almodovar ... Besides Penelope and Ruben (Ray X) the rest of the cast looks like is from a "telenovela". The dialogs are so simple (and I understand Spanish) and the main character is so "unbelievable" (he is out if role from the beginning). I give it a 5 because of the Penelope (you got to see her naked a couple of times - that has to count to something ....). I read some other comments and for a couple of seconds i thought that i didn't see the same movie. "Movie in movie" ... nothing new and the movie that happens is also unfunny and boring. I have no idea what Almodovar is trying to say with it, but - this time - he missed it.

It was great to watch her harrowing performance as a woman trapped in a marriage of convenience while in love with her true love whom she she can never be with. It kind of bothers me that she was nominated for an Academy Award for 'Nine' and not this film. She is definitely the Spanish equivalent of Kate Winslet. That said, I also felt that the movie was a tad bit too long (hence my not giving it 10 stars) and the director seemed to go off track a lot. The whole mystery surrounding how the main character went blind and connecting Cruz's character to main storyline took a little too long to be pieced together. The story started to drag on after a while which kind of killed the overall momentum of the film.

Unfortunately, I didn't take to this film as well as I had hoped. It's definitely good, but the melodrama threatens to suffocate in ways that Almodovar can sometimes avoid, and sometimes can't. The acting is uniformly good. I am a bit surprised that they campaigned and listed Penelope Cruz first, was the first one billed, when the film and story really aren't about her, and instead I'd says he has a big supporting performance. Regardless, she's very good in this, even if she's actually better in a much smaller, more over-the-top role in Nine (which she makes big and still makes it work). Compared to that performance, this one is relatively subdued. Flaws and all, I still recommend this flick.