Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos - 2009)

New work from Pédro Almadóvar is always cause for excitement, and this brightly colored movie about a blind writer, his agent, her grown son, and the writer's past with the beautiful Lena (Penelope Cruz) is no exception. There's plenty of sex, betrayal, and redemption, staples of this Spanish director/writer. Almadóvar's masterpieces have included (ones I have seen) Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios - 1988), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (¡Atame! - 1990), All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre - 1999) which won the Oscar for foreign film, Talk to Her (Hable con ella - 2002), which won him the Oscar for its screenplay and a nomination for directing, Bad Education (La mala educación - 2004), and Volver, all of which he wrote and directed. The rich reds (as exemplified in the shot of the tomatoes for gazpacho), turquoises, even the beach with black sand (shot in the Canary Islands), contribute to the beautiful palette created with noted cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Amores Perros (2000), Frida (2002), 25th Hour (2002), 21 Grams (2003), Alexander (2004), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Babel (2006), Se, Jie (Lust, Caution - 2007), many directors, many styles, all gorgeous pictures). He captures Cruz' beauty from extreme close-ups to long masters. Cruz won an Oscar for her supporting role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and was nominated as lead in Volver. She was also good in All About My Mother, Woman on Top, and Elegy, among others. The writer, who is the main character, and his editor are played by Almadóvar regulars Lluis Homar and Blanca Portillo.

The Sony Classics press kit is available online, containing a long essay by Almodóvar and lots of spoilers--in fact, I consider its first sentence, variations of which I've seen many places, to be a spoiler, so read it at your own risk. It doesn't have the music list, which is one reason I usually like press kits, so I found that elsewhere. I'm guessing that the songs not credited on the list are by composer Alberto Iglesias (most of the above Almadóvar movies, Sex and Lucía (2001), The Constant Gardener (2005), The Kite Runner (2007), and more). The main theme played on a harp was cool, very Hitchcock (that would be the work of composer Bernard Herrmann).

In my humble opinion, this is not Almadóvar's best work, as it can be convoluted and occasionally slow (Jon said, when we saw the enigmatic trailer, "Could this be any more boring? Do they expect people to go to this?"), but it's still damn fine filmmaking and we're not sorry we went.