Broken Embraces

I never got why so much praise has been heaped on Pedro Almodóvar. For me, the director makes films that are to be admired, like one would a painting in a museum, but not once has he emotionally engaged me, not once have I cared about what happens to his characters. Broken Embraces continues in that vein - fans will love it for what it is, while I scratch my head trying to figure out what 'it' is.

Mateo Blanco (Homar) was a famous director until a car crash rendered him blind and now he ekes out a living writing scripts under the pseudonym Harry Caine. When news breaks that Ernesto Martel (Jose Luis Gomez), the corrupt official who financed his last movie (a disaster called Girls and Suitcases), has died, it ignites long-forgotten memories in Blanco of that ill-fated production. Broken Embraces then flashes back to 1992 where Blanco and Girls and Suitcases's leading lady, and Martel's mistress, Lena (Cruz) fall passionately in love. An enraged Martel employs his son (Ochandiano) to spy on the couple...

Almodóvar seems to be a writer who discovers the story as he's writing it. Most writers do this, sure, but most writers go back and adjust the old ideas so it flows into the new ideas; Almodóvar doesn't: he lets the plot tangent upon tangent and Broken Embraces switches between a thriller with noir nods, a drama, a love story and a comedy. These flights of fancy are usually described as 'playful' when it comes to Almodóvar, but are deemed unfocussed in other directors. Okay, rant over.

Broken Embraces can be fun: Almodóvar has as many winks to movies as Tarantino does but he isn't as obvious about it. There's a hilarious scene where Blanco and his writing assistant Diego (Tamar Noves) spitball a movie about vampires - a movie that would be so ridiculous it demands to be made. The dialogue is zippy and Cruz, so beautiful here, is great again; Almodóvar seems to be the only director who can get the best out of her. Almodovar also has a knack of keeping the audience guessing - at no point could you guess the ending of Broken Embraces. The ending, however, takes an eternity to wrap up (longer than a Wes Anderson film) and trickles out instead of wowing.