Parallel Mothers

Another low key work from Almodóvar. Whatever one thinks of the plot's twists and turns, it is hard to deny how great Cruz is at selling the emotional stakes.

I never think I like Pedro Almodóvar films, but when I look through his filmography, I have to report that I've seen exactly none of them - so I'm probably not in the best place to comment really, am I? So let's break that duck, shall we? Hmmm - it's very earnest. It does indeed follow Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit as they experience motherhood - in a parallel fashion, unsurprisingly. It spends half an hour going nowhere and then, out of left field - BOOM! Well, I wasn't expecting that. And then, from further out - DOUBLE BOOM! Blimey. All of a sudden we've got ourselves a proper story. And that's all I'm going to tell you, except for saying that the film raises quite a few interesting points that I'd like to discuss, but can't because of spoilers. And then it kinda does nothing with them... Penélope Cruz and Milena Smit are both great in this - their relationship in the film changes over time and they sell their different roles and motivations well. Israel Elejaide is also good as Arturo, the token man/anthropologist - every film needs a token anthropologist, right? The overall aesthetic is a bit odd - it's quite melodramatic and soapy and really not helped by the bizarre music which has a very cheesy 60s sitcom style. However, with themes including motherhood, guilt, fascism and redemption, it's fair to say this film couldn't be more Spanish if it tried. Another thing you can quite safely say about this film is that it passes the Bechdel test - it has hardly anything other than conversations between women in it and they're never discussing men. It also doesn't really end in the way that I was expecting - for such a melodramatic film it has quite a low-key ending. So - did I like it? I didn't not like it, but it also didn't overly engage me. It started very slowly (I probably would have given up on it under normal circumstances), introduced a couple of interesting plot devices and then resolved them in a surprisingly understated fashion so I was definitely left thinking "Huh - was that it?". But the performances are good and it taught me a bit about the Spanish Civil War, so it's not all bad - I've no idea whether that will be enough to interest you. If it is, then it's available to rent in all the usual places - I can't say my opinion of Pedro has massively improved, but at least I have the one film to base that opinion on now.

Empieza con una buena línea de historia y se va revolviendo de una manera desafortunada. Me parecieron acartonadas varias escenas claves, que no creo que sea culpa de las actrices sino del guión. Se siente muy pesada la mano y visión de un director hombre en toda la fabricación de esta película, la relación lésbica estuvo de más, el co-parenting y la complejidad de la relación se pudo lograr sin llegar al recurso sexual, ellas lloran con maquillaje perfecto, se quejan pero no demasiado, aceptan al hombre que está cuando tiene ganas y no es creíble que te digan que te cambiaron a tu bebé y no te enfurezcas, luego se va con la bebé y la otra mamá se despide como si diera en adopción a un cachorrito del que ya se encariñó, no se siente la profundidad de sus personajes, todo muy por encima en cuestión de emociones y relaciones. El punto del principio lo conectaron hasta el final y no se terminó de unir bien con el desarrollo que hicieron de la historia.

At first the plot seems a cliche but turns out to be surprisingly great. The screenplay is brilliant, in addition to the very interesting story, it has some deep lines and tackles beautiful topics. Penelope Cruz's performance is superb, specially when it comes to her real facial expressions. This film is one of the year's very pleasant surprises, it's nice, highly entertaining and definitely deserves its Golden Globes nomination for best foreign-language feature, too bad Spain didn't submit it to The Academy though.

They accidently switched their babys in hospital. One of the babys died and the mother of the surviving child gives her baby back to the other mother. Mutch blabla, nothing happens. Noone dies (exept the baby) and thats it. Insanly stuipid.

I didn't know what this was about going in, but I was expecting an Almodóvar film complete with aesthetic, colourful visuals and a focus on relationships and the interesting dynamic between the various characters – the man doesn't disappoint. Dealing with a difficult and rare subject, there's no shortage of interesting angles to approach it from and I enjoyed the way the iconic director sometimes pushed the tone towards thriller-esque territory before veering back to the familiar. This isn't his best film by a long shot, but an outstanding Penelope Cruz will ensure that you keep watching until the very end.

Overall, I walked into the film with a brief understanding of its plot, and the film exceeded my expectation with its drama, mysteries and thrills.  For the most part, the film's pace is great, but sadly, some subplots overstay their welcome, and I found major mysteries that were introduced highly predictable, and the same can be said for key aspects of the plot.  Penelope Cruz is outstanding here, and her performance is both successfully touching and dramatic.  The film's musical score is a nice surprise, and it reminded me of older classic thrillers.  Fans of director Pedro Almodovar will generally know what to expect here and will certainly benefit from this film the most.

Plot twists and heightened drama like a soap in a good way, with incredible cinematography and acting.

one of the best movies in years. brilliant and beautiful... the maestro marches on

Mais um filme indicado do Oscar, com temas sociais sem problema com isso já que retratou bem o dilema de troca de bebês, que de mostra desesperador seja qual for a parte, uma coisa acho sem noção é que andei percebendo em muitas séries/filmes é botar sexo em tudo canto, e nesse foi um amor entre elas duas okay pode acontecer mas acho assim não era o foco do filme, então as histórias foram boas por outro lado deveriam se manter no tema, não era objetivo do filme um amor entre duas mulheres, e sim as trocas de bebês, tirando isso teve uma temática importante que as vezes pode acontecer.