BROKEN EMBRACES Review
By Charles Webb
Pedro Almodovar's latest has the potential to lure viewers in with the promise of the unraveling of a romantic-tragic mystery. And yes, part of the movie is concerned - as many of Almodovar's films are - with passion in its many forms and its unintended consequences. But the filmmaker's true interest this time out appears to be in reconstruction and rebuilding the past. And it is in exploring this theme that the filmmaker elevates the movie to a masterwork.
<strong>Broken Embraces</strong> stars Lluís Homar as a blind screenwriter named Harry Caine who was once a sighted director named Mateo Blanco. Those of you guessing the change has something to do with a beauty named Lena (Penélope Cruz) have been thankfully paying attention. In the present, Harry/Mateo is fairly content with his life, doted upon by his fiercely protective agent, Judit (Blanca Portillo) and her son Diego (Tamar Novas).
Then, three things happen that cause Harry to reluctantly look back 15 years into his past: the death of wealthy businessman Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez), a visit by a documentarian calling himself Ray X (Rubén Ochandiano), and an accident involving Diego. Together these events spur a reflection into Harry's romantic and filmmaking past.
Beyond that I won't spoil any more of the film's mysteries save to say that it has one of the most diabolical revenges taken upon a filmmaker that I've had a chance to encounter.
Where the film impresses is in its use and execution of the construction/reconstruction motif. Film images, documentary footage, torn photographs, and fractured pieces of the narrative eventually come together to complete an image of a broken past. An alternate (and altogether on-the-nose) title for the movie would have been <strong>Broken Vision</strong> given how frequently the theme plays out in the film. It all culminates in the final images with three characters "seeing" something in its totality for the first time as the movie image fades out leaving at first only their heads and finally nothing else.
This is not my first exposure to Almodovar, but (with the exception of 2006's <strong>Volver</strong>) it's the first time I've really critically assessed his work as a viewer. It's my shame that I didn't dig deeper in the earlier viewings of his other films but it's my pleasure to be able to go back and revisit them with a more critical eye.
<strong>Charles Webb is a jack of all trades: comics scripter, screenwriter, and game designer living in NYC.</strong>
Pedro Almodovar's latest has the potential to lure viewers in with the promise of the unraveling of a romantic-tragic mystery. And yes, part of the movie is concerned - as many of Almodovar's films are - with passion in its many forms and its unintended consequences. But the filmmaker's true interest this time out appears to be in reconstruction and rebuilding the past. And it is in exploring this theme that the filmmaker elevates the movie to a masterwork.
<strong>Broken Embraces</strong> stars Lluís Homar as a blind screenwriter named Harry Caine who was once a sighted director named Mateo Blanco. Those of you guessing the change has something to do with a beauty named Lena (Penélope Cruz) have been thankfully paying attention. In the present, Harry/Mateo is fairly content with his life, doted upon by his fiercely protective agent, Judit (Blanca Portillo) and her son Diego (Tamar Novas).
Then, three things happen that cause Harry to reluctantly look back 15 years into his past: the death of wealthy businessman Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez), a visit by a documentarian calling himself Ray X (Rubén Ochandiano), and an accident involving Diego. Together these events spur a reflection into Harry's romantic and filmmaking past.
Beyond that I won't spoil any more of the film's mysteries save to say that it has one of the most diabolical revenges taken upon a filmmaker that I've had a chance to encounter.
Where the film impresses is in its use and execution of the construction/reconstruction motif. Film images, documentary footage, torn photographs, and fractured pieces of the narrative eventually come together to complete an image of a broken past. An alternate (and altogether on-the-nose) title for the movie would have been <strong>Broken Vision</strong> given how frequently the theme plays out in the film. It all culminates in the final images with three characters "seeing" something in its totality for the first time as the movie image fades out leaving at first only their heads and finally nothing else.
This is not my first exposure to Almodovar, but (with the exception of 2006's <strong>Volver</strong>) it's the first time I've really critically assessed his work as a viewer. It's my shame that I didn't dig deeper in the earlier viewings of his other films but it's my pleasure to be able to go back and revisit them with a more critical eye.
<strong>Charles Webb is a jack of all trades: comics scripter, screenwriter, and game designer living in NYC.</strong>
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