Broken Embraces (2009)

So I guess I'm starting this today. Here's how I think this will work: I will post stuff about each film the day after I see it. This way I can watch movies late at night if I need to, and I can have around 24 hours to let each movie sink in and to develop some of my thoughts about it. It should be noted that I have quite a bit going on in my life at the moment, so the likelihood of me actually following through with this whole one-film-per-day thing is probably not great. But I figure I should at least try. I thought about waiting to do it until my life calms down a bit, but I just saw a film last night that rocked my world, and I really wanted to write about it.

The movie I saw last night was Broken Embraces, the new Pedro Almodovar film starring Penelope Cruz. It was damn near perfect. I saw it at the Landmark Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis, which is a pretty great setting for viewing such a wonderful film.

About Broken Embraces, Roger Ebert wrote, "As it ravished me I longed for a freeze frame to allow me to savor a shot." This is exactly how I felt about the visual aspects of the film, which were both classic and completely innovative. I found myself wishing I had a remote control so I could rewind each scene and watch it several times before moving on to the next one. I imagine I will probably do exactly this when it comes out on DVD. The film's colors alone are among the most eye-catching I have ever seen in the movies; the color red plays a particularly important role. The actors are photographed beautifully, in a way that reminds me of 1960's European cinema (think Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt). any more description of the camerawork and cinematography would be tedious. Just see the movie.

The film is about a director who goes blind (an idea that was treated much more comically in Woody Allen's 2002 release, Hollywood Ending). This is one small aspect of the plot, but I mention it because I believe it to be the most important. Broken Embraces is about what we see and how quickly it is gone. It is also about the necessity of closure in film, work, love, and other areas of life. I would explain more, but I would probably be giving things away. Just see the movie; Almodovar can articulate all these things much better than I can.

I would also like to mention that Penelope Cruz is one of the most beautiful women in the world. It may have something to do with the way Almodovar photographs her, but she seems to have a beauty from another time, like a modern-day Audrey Hepburn, Claudia Cardinale, or Mary Tyler Moore. It's a quality that screams "movie star," and it makes her films that much more captivating.

I have now seen three Pedro Almodovar films, and it seems to me that with each new project, four things progressively become greater: the similarities to Hitchcock, the richness of color, the depth of the characters, and the quality of the films. I loved both Talk to Her and Volver, but Broken Embraces reached a whole new level for me. Please do yourself a favor and go see this incredible film.

Well, that's one down, 364 to go. I'm not sure they'll all be this long. It will be interesting to see how long I can actually make this last.