Volver, the thread

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pls correct me if this has already been done. i mean, given how much i loved this movie, i can't imagine that it hasn't.

anyway, i loved Volver - i loved cruz, i loved the rest of the cast, i loved the flow of the film. it was fantastic.

anyone else totally taken by the latest from pedro? or not taken? thoughts welcome.

― Surmounter (Awn, R), Sunday, 31 December 2006 16:07 (seventeen years ago) link

As always with Almovodar, lush, sensual and bold. As always it failed to completely engage me and left me feeling somewhat dissatisfied. I think he's a great film maker, but one that doesn't particularly speak to me.

― Chap (chap), Sunday, 31 December 2006 18:40 (seventeen years ago) link

After Talk to Her and Bad Education, this was a bit of a letdown, though Cruz's cleavage is magnificent.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 31 December 2006 18:51 (seventeen years ago) link

Penelope's perfectly plump prosthetic posterior.

― remy bean (bean), Sunday, 31 December 2006 19:06 (seventeen years ago) link

i swore we had a thread on this already? or maybe that was pre-sandbox.

anyway: loved this, tho about 20 minutes too long. carmen maura is a goddess.

― jo ga11ucci electrix (joseph), Sunday, 31 December 2006 19:47 (seventeen years ago) link

Aw, poor dying Ebert, I think this might be his last review. But he still gets in classic shit about his ever-more cited Aunt Martha and of ccourse the breasticles:

In this connection, some mention might be made of Cruz's cleavage, including one startling shot also incorporating the murder weapon.

― Abbott (Abbott), Sunday, 31 December 2006 20:09 (seventeen years ago) link

After Talk to Her and Bad Education, this was a bit of a letdown, though Cruz's cleavage is magnificent.

-- Eric H. (ephende...), Today. (later)

i agree... although i did like it

― a mediocre black-and-white cookie in a cellophane wrapper (hanks1ockli), Sunday, 31 December 2006 20:23 (seventeen years ago) link

Aw, poor dying Ebert, I think this might be his last review.

why you say this?!?!

― a mediocre black-and-white cookie in a cellophane wrapper (hanks1ockli), Sunday, 31 December 2006 20:24 (seventeen years ago) link

It's the last one he wrote that showed up on his site & that was a while ago...all else since has been Emerson and even after his cancer recovery his max output was one a week. I'm really worried about the guy. burn out, don't rust, my breast-loving man!

― Abbott (Abbott), Sunday, 31 December 2006 20:36 (seventeen years ago) link

There are still a few hours left for 2006 to turn into an extraordinarily well-stocked dead pool.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 31 December 2006 21:08 (seventeen years ago) link

more so, I mean.

though I'd be very sad to see him go.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 31 December 2006 21:08 (seventeen years ago) link

In the interview he did with Michael Apted on the 49-Up disc (June or July of this year), Ebert looked so ailing and sad and tired. It was clear he felt this would be the last of the films in the series he would ever see and my heart just went out to him.

― jaq (jaq), Sunday, 31 December 2006 21:19 (seventeen years ago) link

Wasn't that interview before his surgery, jaq? It would explain his exhaustion.

I enjoyed Volver a lot more than BE; as a man with Spanish grandparents on both sides I certainly understand the extent to which the texture of my life is comprised of loud wet kisses on cheeks, potato omelettes, and mothers who enjoy the smell of their own farts.

Cruz gives the least interesting performance; I preferred Carmen Maura.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 31 December 2006 21:45 (seventeen years ago) link

Cruz least interesting? How so? Her tatas do more heavy lifting than nearly anyone else in the cast. Plus she hacks, cries and sings (or lip-syncs).

That said, I prefer Blanca Portillo best.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 31 December 2006 21:49 (seventeen years ago) link

I have nothing against the performance (as the star she's also the most relatively sane character), only questioning why she's gotten all the kudos. I understand why: now that an international audience can see that she can utter a line of dialogue with force, wit, and clarity they're prepared to call her a great actress too.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 31 December 2006 21:54 (seventeen years ago) link

all the performances were amazing, definitely did not find penelope uninteresting...

i loved BE and i loved this, but i think i lovd this more. talk to her was good but a bit boring for me? i might have to revisit.

somthing about this movie was sooo watchable for me, so entertaining. and it was so beautiful to look at as well.

and the song - that scene devestated me. the mother watching... wow.

― Surmounter (Awn, R), Sunday, 31 December 2006 22:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Volver is good, but it's not great, cause it's really hard for Almodovar to make a new movie which is not predictable in style and theme .perhaps he doesnt even try to rise above his usuall self.
and it shows.

― john lang (emekars), Sunday, 31 December 2006 22:27 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah "bad education" was so predictable and rote!

― a mediocre black-and-white cookie in a cellophane wrapper (hanks1ockli), Sunday, 31 December 2006 22:32 (seventeen years ago) link

yeag i should have written "make a new movie which is not predictable in style and theme and is also great", cause "bad education wasn't.

― john lang (emekars), Sunday, 31 December 2006 22:36 (seventeen years ago) link

Name a director who's been making films 20+ years who hasn't settled into predictability of theme and style -- as if anyone could avoid this.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 31 December 2006 22:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Theres no one like that.(except from maybe werner herzog)
My theory says, that in a perfect world, those direcrors would stop making films way before those 20 years are over.

most of them didnt make a sagnificent film in the late years , which can be compared to their older masterpieces i think.

― john lang (emekars), Sunday, 31 December 2006 22:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Try telling that to any artist. It's a romantic notion that fails to account for will, increased craft, and the pleasure principle.

Besides, for an audience there's pleasure in watching an artist work out his obsessions.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 31 December 2006 23:00 (seventeen years ago) link

it's only my perspective. and i understand the notion in your post.

― john lang (emekars), Sunday, 31 December 2006 23:02 (seventeen years ago) link

unless you're only interested in novelty the idea is kind of ridiculous.

― a mediocre black-and-white cookie in a cellophane wrapper (hanks1ockli), Sunday, 31 December 2006 23:04 (seventeen years ago) link

i'm intersted in novelty but not only that.maybe i was exaggerated.
the point was to explain why Volver is good, but not much more than that

― john lang (emekars), Sunday, 31 December 2006 23:09 (seventeen years ago) link

Many great directors make many great films beyond 20 years into their career. In a couple cases, they've made their best films at the end of their careers.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Sunday, 31 December 2006 23:23 (seventeen years ago) link

The Bunuel of Discreet Charm could not have made that film as a young man, for instance.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 31 December 2006 23:46 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah i don't really think directors are the same as say rock stars that way

― a mediocre black-and-white cookie in a cellophane wrapper (hanks1ockli), Sunday, 31 December 2006 23:51 (seventeen years ago) link

i mean just look at john landis

― a mediocre black-and-white cookie in a cellophane wrapper (hanks1ockli), Monday, 1 January 2007 01:36 (seventeen years ago) link

I found myself relatively unengaged. And the clumsy fake-o lipsynching was the PITS. She should have sung the damn song, badly! That would have been way more powerful.
An okay movie, even though I'm complaining. Here, I'll complain some more. Sole and Agustina were so much more interesting than Cruz's character. Cruz is always always always boring. What? Is letting her mascara run a big reach for her?
And the Chinatown twist is stupid. C'mon, Pedro! Get back to the drag queens!

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Monday, 1 January 2007 17:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Name a director who's been making films 20+ years who hasn't settled into predictability of theme and style

hint: Munich

Cruz has gotten the kudos cuz it's a megawatchable movie-star turn that doesn't swallow the movie (and bcz of the cleavage). But as I said in the old thread, Lola Dueñas was my fave actor here.

― Dr M (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 2 January 2007 14:50 (seventeen years ago) link

i thought p cruz was fantastic, and only because i thought her acting was incredibly elegant and convincing. not because she is a movie star, not because she was able to say a line wittily, which is surprising for a movie star, yada yada yada - i just thought she was plain good.

― Surmounter (Awn, R), Tuesday, 2 January 2007 15:35 (seventeen years ago) link

"hint: Munich"

He meant a good director.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 2 January 2007 19:04 (seventeen years ago) link

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