Cinema: Volver (2006)
Michael, Lora, Felix and I went to see the North American premiere of Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver, starring Penelope Cruz. The entire female ensemble cast won the “Best Actress” Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and it was certainly well deserved.
I have see a number of Almodóvar’s films and this one seems to retrun to a style that he had briefly left. It’s a quirkly drama about two sisters, a daughter, a close family friend, and one of Almodóvar’s favourite subjects: a mother. Only this time, the mother is dead, but keeps appearing to her family.
Penelope Cruz is breathtaking not only in appearance but in her peformance. She and her fellow female castmembers work together with incredible comfort and give each other room to shine. Highly recommended - not my favourite Almodóvar, but a great film with generous emotional overtones.
This was a Gala presentation, so it was opened by a speech from Almodóvar and then Penelope Cruz. Here’s a picture I took of them:
