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January 21, 2007
Todo Sobre Mi Madre
It is very strange to me that in IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix, that it is difficult to find the movie Todo Sobre Mi Madre. Not because the film isn't there, but because those English-first, last and always sites insist on classifying it by the English translation of the name. I suppose I should just accept this as a fact of life - after all, I don't know the Chinese name of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." (Although, unlike most US'ians, I'd be able to pronounce the name if I saw it because I took a semester of Mandarin in college.) In any event, I saw the film yesterday.
To be honest, my interest in Almodovar is based on an erroneous memory. For some reason, I thought the guy had something to do with one of my favorite movies of recent years - Mar adentro. Now that I've bothered to look into the issue on IMDB, I feel like a fool. Still, it's good that I didn't fully understand the director's niche before seeing the film.
Of course, I saw it because it's been mentioned in all of the recent articles about Volver - explaining that Volver is the second Almodovar film highlighting the "talent" of Penelope Cruz. I dunno, I just have a hard time believing that she's anything besides a spoiled, pretty brat. Maybe that's because I sat through her attempts at English language acting before seeing her in a Spanish language flick.
First, let me explain that I hated La Mala Educacion. I didn't realize that Almodovar m.o. includes extensive use of transvestites, homages to old movies, and ridiculous, over-the-top plot lines. While he uses these tropes to better effect in Todo Sobre mi Madre, I still don't understand why IMDB commentators cried while watching the film. [I also think I was confusing my Spanish language interests - I was originally interested in La Mala Educacion because it stars Gael Garcia Bernal, the luscious star of Amores Perros and Y Tu Mama, Tambien.]
Back to Todo Sobre Mi Madre. It's a decent film. It's compelling and didn't feel slow. I had to swallow my disbelief in the beginning and accept that it would be a film full of convenient coincidence, but it's definitely worth watching.
Here's Ebert's review of the film, truncated to the review portion (i.e. deleting the plot summary):
Pedro Almodovar's films are a struggle between real and fake heartbreak--between tragedy and soap opera. They're usually funny, too, which increases the tension. You don't know where to position yourself while you're watching a film like "All About My Mother," and that's part of the appeal: Do you take it seriously, like the characters do, or do you notice the bright colors and flashy art decoration, the cheerful homages to Tennessee Williams and "All About Eve," and see it as a parody? Even Almodovar's camera sometimes doesn't know where to stand: When the heroine's son writes in his journal, the camera looks at his pen from the point of view of the paper.I agree with Roger that the coincidence and melodrama work in this film - I just don't understand how people are actually manipulated enough by these things to cry while watching. Still, it's worth a viewing if you haven't seen it yet."All About My Mother"' is one of the best films of the Spanish director, whose films present a Tennessee Williams sensibility in the visual style of a 1950s Universal-International tearjerker. Rock Hudson and Dorothy Malone never seem very far offscreen. Bette Davis isn't offscreen at all: Almodovar's heroines seem to be playing her. Self-parody is part of Almodovar's approach, but "All About My Mother" is also sincere and heartfelt; though two of its characters are transvestite hookers, one is a pregnant nun and two more are battling lesbians, this is a film that paradoxically expresses family values. [...]
Almodovar's earlier films sometimes seemed to be manipulating the characters as an exercise. Here the plot does handstands in its eagerness to use coincidence, surprise and melodrama. But the characters have a weight and reality, as if Almodovar has finally taken pity on them--has seen that although their plights may seem ludicrous, they're real enough to hurt. These are people who stand outside conventional life and its rules, and yet affirm them. Families are where you find them and how you make them, and home, it's said, is the place where, if you have to go there, they have to take you in.
Rotten Tomatoes listing
IMDB listing
Posted by cj at January 21, 2007 11:53 AM