Michuk
09-23-2009, 08:17 AM
Pedro Almodóvar has been developing as a story-teller, director and artist with each and every movie since he made his last "wild" picture, "Kika", in 1993. "Broken Embraces" is no exception. In this beautiful film, the Spanish (film)master shows his absolute affection for cinema-making while still managing to tell us a fresh, funny and dramatic story about love, jealousy and sick desire.
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/6500/mv5bmjezmtaymzc5mf5bml5.jpg (dunno why the image cannot be displayed)
Mateo Blanco (Lluís Homar) is a director. He's young, talented, bold and beautiful. The world is at his feet and he's enjoying it.
Harry Caine is a screenwriter. He's older. He's blind. He's cynical and self-ironic. "I've achieved it all already" -- he says at some point -- "Enjoy life, perhaps that's all I can do at this point". But this is half truth. The other half is that he lives next to his memories. And he's having a hard time accepting the events, even though 14 years have passed by.
Connecting the lives of Mateo Blanco and Harry Caine is what this movie is all about. It's a puzzle. By putting the pieces back together and trying to guess the missing ones -- just like what Diego (Tamar Novas) does with the photos found in Harry's drawer -- we're learning the story and getting closer to the mystery it's hiding.
So, we are looking at the pieces. There is a big, sensual love between Mateo and Lena (Penélope Cruz), who is also starring in his movie, but we are not allowed to see it rising. Mateo keeps it to himself. There is a rich businessman, Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez), Lena's employer, sponsor (client?), over-protective guardian and lover, who is the also the producer of Mateo's movie. We don't know his motivations (except for sick jealousy), but we learn about him through the voyeuristic video sessions in which he's spying on his beloved one. There is his suspicious (half-retarded?) son, an amateur camera buff, assigned with a task of making a documentary about Mateo's film, delivering the video materials for his dad. He reappears later on as a businessman and director, Ray X. Each of his appearances is crucial to the story.
Finally there is Judit García (Blanca Portillo), Diego's mother, Harry's protector and Mateo's business partner, a mysterious, calm woman, who is definitely hiding a secret.
Some of these secrets we find out about, some of we don't. Just like in real life when we sometimes accidentally learn about the mysteries of our old friends or foes by reading the obituaries in the newspapers.
But there is another main character in Almodóvar's picture. It's the cinema. And it's everywhere. When Mateo and Lena are together in the faraway place, they are watching old movies. Same happens when Diego takes care of Harry when Judit is not around. In "Inglourious Basterds" Quentin Tarantino makes the cinema change the course of the history. In "Broken Embraces" it severely affects the private lives of the characters: it is a direct cause of a tragedy, but at the same time, a remedy for the pain.
Almodóvar only touches on each subject, not willing to give up the full picture. This can be taken as a flaw. However, I believe that by gracefully connecting concepts and stories with the manifestation of love for the cinema, the Spanish director managed to create yet another small masterpiece. And the only thing I truly regret is that I'll probably never be able to watch the rest of the film inside the film, directed by Mateo. The parts that we were allowed to see were simply hilarious!
This review is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/). It has been first published at Filmaster.com under the title Torn Pictures, Broken Embraces (http://michuk.filmaster.com/review/torn-pictures-broken-embraces/)
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/6500/mv5bmjezmtaymzc5mf5bml5.jpg (dunno why the image cannot be displayed)
Mateo Blanco (Lluís Homar) is a director. He's young, talented, bold and beautiful. The world is at his feet and he's enjoying it.
Harry Caine is a screenwriter. He's older. He's blind. He's cynical and self-ironic. "I've achieved it all already" -- he says at some point -- "Enjoy life, perhaps that's all I can do at this point". But this is half truth. The other half is that he lives next to his memories. And he's having a hard time accepting the events, even though 14 years have passed by.
Connecting the lives of Mateo Blanco and Harry Caine is what this movie is all about. It's a puzzle. By putting the pieces back together and trying to guess the missing ones -- just like what Diego (Tamar Novas) does with the photos found in Harry's drawer -- we're learning the story and getting closer to the mystery it's hiding.
So, we are looking at the pieces. There is a big, sensual love between Mateo and Lena (Penélope Cruz), who is also starring in his movie, but we are not allowed to see it rising. Mateo keeps it to himself. There is a rich businessman, Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez), Lena's employer, sponsor (client?), over-protective guardian and lover, who is the also the producer of Mateo's movie. We don't know his motivations (except for sick jealousy), but we learn about him through the voyeuristic video sessions in which he's spying on his beloved one. There is his suspicious (half-retarded?) son, an amateur camera buff, assigned with a task of making a documentary about Mateo's film, delivering the video materials for his dad. He reappears later on as a businessman and director, Ray X. Each of his appearances is crucial to the story.
Finally there is Judit García (Blanca Portillo), Diego's mother, Harry's protector and Mateo's business partner, a mysterious, calm woman, who is definitely hiding a secret.
Some of these secrets we find out about, some of we don't. Just like in real life when we sometimes accidentally learn about the mysteries of our old friends or foes by reading the obituaries in the newspapers.
But there is another main character in Almodóvar's picture. It's the cinema. And it's everywhere. When Mateo and Lena are together in the faraway place, they are watching old movies. Same happens when Diego takes care of Harry when Judit is not around. In "Inglourious Basterds" Quentin Tarantino makes the cinema change the course of the history. In "Broken Embraces" it severely affects the private lives of the characters: it is a direct cause of a tragedy, but at the same time, a remedy for the pain.
Almodóvar only touches on each subject, not willing to give up the full picture. This can be taken as a flaw. However, I believe that by gracefully connecting concepts and stories with the manifestation of love for the cinema, the Spanish director managed to create yet another small masterpiece. And the only thing I truly regret is that I'll probably never be able to watch the rest of the film inside the film, directed by Mateo. The parts that we were allowed to see were simply hilarious!
This review is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/). It has been first published at Filmaster.com under the title Torn Pictures, Broken Embraces (http://michuk.filmaster.com/review/torn-pictures-broken-embraces/)