PeaceBang
The manic mind of the minister -- Auntie Mame Meets Cotton Mather. Blogging about Unitarian Universalism, UU Christian spiritual practice, occasional cultural and political ravings, and the inner life of ministry. PeaceBang is the alter ego of a small town pastor serving an historic New England Unitarian Universalist congregation.
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October 17, 2007 on 11:39 pm | In Shout-Outs, TV/Movies/Theatre/Book Reviews |Another reason to just love Pedro Almodovar.
His films always have at least one performance that just quietly slays me. In this picture, Penelope Cruz was really fantastic (how come she’s never nearly as strong or authoritative a presence in any of her American films?), but Blanca Portillo was incandescent.
I said to my sister that I loved this movie because none of the characters needed to end up with a man at the end to make it interesting or memorable. In fact, much more to my taste, the movie begins and ends with women taking care of one another. Pedro Almodovar trusts that to be interesting enough for his viewers, and I notice that the reviewers who hated the film just couldn’t stand how much he seems to love his female characters.
Penelope Cruz has the greatest hair and eye make-up EVER in this movie. It’s obvious that the costume designers padded her butt for some reason, but that doesn’t detract from her sublimity. I remember seeing her in “Belle Epoque” when she was just about twenty and she was an incredibly breathtaking unknown. Good for her for getting her great Sophia Loren/Anna Magnanani part at last.
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Cruz with Almodovar is just magic. Maybe he’s her muse.
Comment by h sofia — October 19, 2007 #
I loved this movie…and Cruz also reminded me of Sophia Loren in her young, vibrant earth mother days working with Vittorio deSica.
I think the reason Cruz is less luminous in her American films is probably equally a problem with the language (her comfort level is not what it is with Spanish, clearly) and the fact that she has been cast in mostly forgettable, lightweight movies in the US. She is the feminine version of Antonio Banderas; he did fantastic work in Spain under Almodovar’s expert direction; he has pretty much done nothing but schlock in the US (Zorro? That laughable period piece with Angelina Jolie? You could go on and on…).
Comment by tom — October 20, 2007 #