Quote:
Originally Posted by roshiq
Enter the Void (2009)
>>: C-
|
Really? That really sucks mon.
Volver (2006). OK, when I popped this into the VCR thingy I was expecting an action flick. It opened with chicks discussing family stuff at a cemetery, prompting me to rightfully yank it out, replacing it with a Scorsesee flick for good measure. But curiosity got the better of me and
Volver found its way back into my life. Oh the horror thought I, for if I was caught watching this veritable chick flick then my man card would be yanked for sure. But watch on did I, and in doing so was blessed with an amazing story punctuated by even better acting, AKA man card fully intact.
Volver is a story that hints at the supernatural, that flips the prosaic upside down and makes it wonderful, and that comes to an ugly conclusion that somehow matches the incredible beauty of Penelope Cruz. How it begins as a wildly tangential venture and ends as a tightly knitted present is the work of directorial splendor of Almodovar. Even the familial parallelism, fantastic by its very nature, seems both mundane yet wildly entertaining.
This really should have been a boring affair, a feminine flick with no explosions to speak of, let alone a substantial male actor to incite some sort of manly shenanigan. Instead this was a film dominated by the fairer sex, but done in such a fashion that its feminine flair was far from a turnoff for the stinky gender of which I belong. Maybe it was Penelope's incredible screen presence. Here is a woman filled with primal fire, a woman not exactly bright but street-smart and driven to action for all of the right reasons- family.
And while Cruz is the star, the supporting cast does more than their fair share to support her. Lola Duenes was incredible as the secretive sister, and what a secret she holds. The mother, skillfully played by Carmen Maura, delivers a performance powered through her on screen capacity to barely hold back her character's emotions. The greatest supporting performance might just have come from Yohana Cobo as Penelope's daughter. Her character captured both the profoundly disturbed emotions of the story's grim hinge as well as the barely contained verve of a secret that proves incapable of containment.
The symbolism from the exquisitely composed photography soared way over my head, but in eyes more capable than mine volumes of celluloid momentum must have been emoted to great effect. The dialog, even by way of the off-putting subtitle, was substantially better than the Hollywood droll that is born just south. Writer/director Pedro Almodovar has simply created a light-hearted movie of insidiously profound implications, told in an open style through believable characters whose life struggles we cannot help but to understand and root for.
d