In celebration of finishing my Spanish final I picked up four movies. The choice for that night was Pedro Almodóvar's 2006 film, Volver. I grabbed it because I remembered trying to decide whether to see it or a different movie at the Rialto Cinemas Lakeside one night. I actually don't remember what we did end up seeing, but I do remember thinking Volver sounded pretty good. so when I saw it, I grabbed it.
Volver was an interesting choice to celebrate the completion of this sememster's classes (except Canadian Literature, which I have tomorrow) especially Spanish, because, well, it's in Spanish. I enjoyed this aspect of it, I was actually able to make out quite a few of the words and phrases. I watch a lot of films that are not in English, but a Spanish language film is pretty rare in my viewing experience. The last film I can remember watching in Spanish is Guillermo del Toro's award winning El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) from the same year. The cool think about somewhat knowing the language of the film you're watching is that you do not need to read the subtitles so closely, and you can focus more of your attention on the screen. I certainly could not watch it without the titles, I am actually pretty bad at Spanish, but I was able to pay closer attention to the photography of the film.
The photography of this film is what really catches your attention first. The cinematographer José Luis Alcaine and Almodóvar create a beautifully colorful, brightly lit world to unleash this dark story upon. This irony comes in the very first shot. An extremely high-key, colorful, exterior, tracking shot roams passed women dusting/cleaning gravestones in a cemetery. Throughout the remainder of the film this style remains. There are certainly key scenes that are more darkly lit, which is clearly an attempt to make an obvious contrast between the two; but even the exterior night scenes are very high-key. I think the only thing that saves these scenes from looking like a 'telenovela' or even an American daytime soap opera is the fact that the picture was shot on film. Had it been shot HD or BetaCam I believe the lighting would have felt like daytime television. Since it was not shot on video, it works; it adds to the surreal or even ethereal fantastical feel to the film. High-angle shots are pretty common in this film. It may be a reference to the spiritual beings watching over the characters (supposedly), or maybe Almodóvar and/or Alcaine are just into the directly over head shots.
Penélope Cruz offers an impressive, yet goofily hilarious performance. She goes from intensely dramatic, to so silly it's hardly acting from scene to scene. And I am not quite sure if it was on purpose or not, but her make-up is all over the place. Some scenes she is stunningly beautiful, others she's lookin' about as Plain-Jane as Ms. Cruz can get in a motion picture. She not only has an impressive screen, her breasts almost play a character themselves. I am willing to guess that this is a cultural thing. The unabashed close-ups of her cleavage, as well as numerous references in the dialogue, don't really seem to add to the characters, and very little to the plot. I'm guessing Spanish culture places more blatant emphasis on the female body than we like to pretend we do in North America. The rest of the cast offers great performances as well. Since I am reading a lot of what they're saying, rather than listening it is truly hard to judge.
Gender plays an important role in this film, but I believe that it would take another viewing or two and some research to truly articulate and argument on it. I will mention though, that there are absolutely no important male characters in the story. There are some supporting males, but they occupy a minuscule amount of screen time.
I am now starting to equate Spanish-language/Latin American cinema with fantastic and imaginative stories, firmly routed in the real world. Almodóvar tells a wonderful, suspenseful story with Volver. You are never quite in the dark about the secrets of the plot, but you are still anxiously on the edge of your seat through the whole flick. I warmly welcome the unorthodox approach he takes to story-telling, and would recommend this movie.
Well, that's all I have to say about Volver for now. Even though the last sentence makes it sound like it, this is not a review (especially since the film has been out for 3 years...) but more just the thoughts off the top of my head on the film. I realize it is not that interesting for anyone else, like I said in my first post, I originally intended this to be in a notebook, but I figured I'd put in online for others to read if they want. So, if you do read it, let me know what you think. And if you like it tell your friends or something? Someone should put me in my place.
Volver was an interesting choice to celebrate the completion of this sememster's classes (except Canadian Literature, which I have tomorrow) especially Spanish, because, well, it's in Spanish. I enjoyed this aspect of it, I was actually able to make out quite a few of the words and phrases. I watch a lot of films that are not in English, but a Spanish language film is pretty rare in my viewing experience. The last film I can remember watching in Spanish is Guillermo del Toro's award winning El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) from the same year. The cool think about somewhat knowing the language of the film you're watching is that you do not need to read the subtitles so closely, and you can focus more of your attention on the screen. I certainly could not watch it without the titles, I am actually pretty bad at Spanish, but I was able to pay closer attention to the photography of the film.
The photography of this film is what really catches your attention first. The cinematographer José Luis Alcaine and Almodóvar create a beautifully colorful, brightly lit world to unleash this dark story upon. This irony comes in the very first shot. An extremely high-key, colorful, exterior, tracking shot roams passed women dusting/cleaning gravestones in a cemetery. Throughout the remainder of the film this style remains. There are certainly key scenes that are more darkly lit, which is clearly an attempt to make an obvious contrast between the two; but even the exterior night scenes are very high-key. I think the only thing that saves these scenes from looking like a 'telenovela' or even an American daytime soap opera is the fact that the picture was shot on film. Had it been shot HD or BetaCam I believe the lighting would have felt like daytime television. Since it was not shot on video, it works; it adds to the surreal or even ethereal fantastical feel to the film. High-angle shots are pretty common in this film. It may be a reference to the spiritual beings watching over the characters (supposedly), or maybe Almodóvar and/or Alcaine are just into the directly over head shots.
Penélope Cruz offers an impressive, yet goofily hilarious performance. She goes from intensely dramatic, to so silly it's hardly acting from scene to scene. And I am not quite sure if it was on purpose or not, but her make-up is all over the place. Some scenes she is stunningly beautiful, others she's lookin' about as Plain-Jane as Ms. Cruz can get in a motion picture. She not only has an impressive screen, her breasts almost play a character themselves. I am willing to guess that this is a cultural thing. The unabashed close-ups of her cleavage, as well as numerous references in the dialogue, don't really seem to add to the characters, and very little to the plot. I'm guessing Spanish culture places more blatant emphasis on the female body than we like to pretend we do in North America. The rest of the cast offers great performances as well. Since I am reading a lot of what they're saying, rather than listening it is truly hard to judge.
Gender plays an important role in this film, but I believe that it would take another viewing or two and some research to truly articulate and argument on it. I will mention though, that there are absolutely no important male characters in the story. There are some supporting males, but they occupy a minuscule amount of screen time.
I am now starting to equate Spanish-language/Latin American cinema with fantastic and imaginative stories, firmly routed in the real world. Almodóvar tells a wonderful, suspenseful story with Volver. You are never quite in the dark about the secrets of the plot, but you are still anxiously on the edge of your seat through the whole flick. I warmly welcome the unorthodox approach he takes to story-telling, and would recommend this movie.
Well, that's all I have to say about Volver for now. Even though the last sentence makes it sound like it, this is not a review (especially since the film has been out for 3 years...) but more just the thoughts off the top of my head on the film. I realize it is not that interesting for anyone else, like I said in my first post, I originally intended this to be in a notebook, but I figured I'd put in online for others to read if they want. So, if you do read it, let me know what you think. And if you like it tell your friends or something? Someone should put me in my place.
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