Screening Log

This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.

January 2007 activity

Total Log Entries: 84

Total Comments: 32

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Volver / To Return / Spain / 2006

I’ve tried for years to find the exact words to describe Almodovar’s style, the substance and charm of his films, his characters. So far, the best I’ve come up with is “magical realism.” In literature, magical realism is the use of plausible, yet purposely inexplicable elements of fantasy; an overindulgence in the employment of symbols is a must, folklore is important, and time is seemingly unestablished or unimportant. (There’s obviously more to it, but my experience with magical realism in prose is limited.)

An ill-supported argument, at best—the only other description of Almodovar I’ve managed to construct is “feminist melodrama,” which doesn’t even begin to explain Talk to Her—but it’s beside the point, as it describes the first 90 minutes of Volver with near perfection. Nobody seems too distressed by Irene’s apparent return from the grave; in fact, the dead matriarch walks around daughter Sole’s house with causal abandon, even taking up the position of hairdresser-in-training. (This is, of course, before her death is explained in full.) The women of Aunt Paula’s village talk unendingly of spirits, and contrasted with their age-old belief in the mystical are wind farms and cell phones. (The latter seems to have taken up an interesting place in this year’s films.)

However you describe Almodovar’s style, Volver is the same whimsically dark, playfully feminine, definedly colorful film we expect from such a master of the camera. Who knew a paper towel soaking up blood could be beautiful, or that the cleaning of a knife could be filmed so seductively? With stunning, centered cinematography and a pitch-perfect cast of women—I could listen to Penelope Cruz sing all day—Volver is undoubtedly one of my favorite films of last year.

Leo’s Review

by Adam Balz | Source: 35MM Theatrical Print
08 Jan 2007 12:40 PM | Submit Comment

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