Review: Broken Embraces
January 10th 2010 22:49
Broken Embraces (2009, Almodovar)
Written January 9, 2010
There’s something enchanting about watching a Pedro Almodovar film. He’s one of cinema’s most unique and brilliant filmmakers. Almodovar captivates with his brilliant colors and intricately woven tales; his latest, Broken Embraces, is no exception. Broken Embraces is Almodovar’s obvious love letter to cinema and it is a masterpiece. Using his muse, Penelope Cruz (whom has perhaps only been more beautiful in Volver, also by Almodovar) as the object of the gaze (both within and outside of the narrative) the director sweeps us into state of mind where all of the large and insignificant things in our lives suddenly mean nothing anymore. While watching this film, one escapes into the power of cinema.
A description of the plot is barely relevant when it comes to reviewing this film. Broken Embraces is about the look and feel. Almodovar has carefully woven together a mix of film noir and melodrama. In fact, it feels like Douglas Sirk, Nicholas Ray, and Howard Hawks all rolled into one. The film feels dated, as if it could have been made in the 1950s, and that’s just perfect. Broken Embraces captures the emotions of love, lust, anger, jealousy, and hate to astute perfection.
Almodovar’s camera is slow and deliberate. His choice of camera angles and shots are meticulous. His use of vivid colors, in particular red, causes every action on the screen to pop out and pull you into the world he creates. The performances are stellar, particularly Cruz and Lluis Homar; the latter gives a beautifully layered performance revealing his life “before” and “after” and the changes a person can go through to become someone completely different.
Broken Embraces is one of the year’s most stunning films. It should be celebrated and recognized in all planes come award season but it naturally will not. Almodovar will not care about that. He makes film for passion, not profit. And one can only hope he will continue doing so for a long time to come. He is a true artist.
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