Esther Garcia

Iconic Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is back with another powerfully complex female-centred drama, along the lines of Volver or All About My Mother. Its punchy emotional rhythms are deeply involving, while the film's visual style creates an atmosphere of mystery and suspense as a woman deals with parenthood, love and death over two decades.

Julieta (Emma Suarez) is a high-powered middle-aged woman in Madrid who has just agreed to move with her writer boyfriend Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti) to Portugal. But a series of events changes her mind, and she instead drops out of her life, consumed with thoughts about her daughter Antia (Bianca Peres), who wants nothing to do with her. As she flashes back to life as a young woman (now Adriana Ugarte), she relives her romance with the rugged fisherman Xoan (Daniel Grao) and his close friend Ava (Inma Cuesta). And thinking about all of these people who have come and gone from her life clarifies her resolve.

The film is based on three Alice Munro stories, which is what gives it such a swirling, layered quality as the characters spiral around each other. Almodovar keeps the tone intimate and openly emotional, adding vivid visual flourishes in clever camerawork and striking splashes of primary colours (mainly reds and blues). Thankfully, this isn't a downbeat movie; it's a celebration of how various aspects of love touch our life. The focus is on the seasons of Julieta's face, and both Suarez and Ugarte are transparent in the role, seamlessly merging their performances to create a woman who understands that, even with people around you, you're essentially alone in life. Meanwhile, all of the supporting actors create remarkable inner lives for their characters that make them unusually vivid.

Continue reading: Julieta Review

From Argentina, this Oscar-nominated collection of six short, sharp stories leaves us gasping for breath due to both riotous black comedy and deeply unnerving plot twists. Each segment is about people who are pushed beyond the tipping point, finding revenge in an unexpected way that feels both deeply horrifying and disturbingly satisfying. And even though it sometimes veers wildly close to being over-the-top, the film is written, directed and played with such brutal honesty that it can't help but rattle us to the core.

The prologue is titled "Pasternak", set on an airplane on which passengers are surprised to find out that they all have a connection to Gabriel Pasternak. But what does he have in store for them all? Next is "The Rats", set in a roadside diner where waitress Moza (Julieta Zylberberg) is unnerved to serve a loan shark (Cesar Bordon) who destroyed her family. The chef (Rita Cortese) thinks she should poison his food. "The Strongest" follows Diego (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a wealthy man driving his shiny car down a highway when he comes up to Mario (Walter Donado) hogging the road with his rattling clunker. Passing him with a volley of obscenities, Diego is then horrified when he has a flat tyre and knows who's coming down the road behind him.

The fourth clip is "Little Bomb", about demolition expert Simon (Ricardo Darin), who engages the city's bureaucrats in a quickly escalating war when his car is erroneously towed for parking illegally. "The Proposal" is the most cerebral segment, centring on a wealthy man (Oscar Martinez) trying to clear his teen son (Alan Daicz), who has just run down a pregnant woman in the street. The idea is to find a scapegoat. And in "Until Death Parts Us", a bride (Erica Rivas) discovers in the middle of their marriage reception that her new husband (Diego Gentile) has been cheating on her. Her reaction is neither calm nor measured.

Continue reading: Wild Tales Review

Fans of more recent Almodovar films like The Skin I Live In or Volver should be warned about this one, because it harks back to his much cheesier 1980s films with its broad comedy, lurid production values and camp characters. But even if it looks fluffy and silly, there are some serious things going on under the surface, as Almodovar undermines stereotypes and plays with sexuality issues. Although this means that most of the humour is aimed at a gay audience.

It all takes place on a flight from Spain to Mexico, but shortly after take-off the pilot (de la Torre) announces that a mechanical fault means they need to make an emergency landing. Then the passenger Bruna (Duenas) reveals that she's a virginal psychic who sees death ahead, and everyone starts to panic. The flight crew (Camara, Areces and Arevalo) try to distract the passengers from impending doom by performing a choreographed number to the Pointer Sisters' eponymous hit. And when that doesn't work, they lace everyone's drinks with mescaline.

Each person in the first class cabin (economy is sound asleep) has his or her own crisis, including a notorious dominatrix (Roth), a businessman (Torrijo) on a quest, a shady hitman (Yazpik), a just-married groom (Silvestre) who prefers his wife to be asleep, and a man (Toledo) running from his suicidal girlfriend (Vega). And the pilots and flight attendants are also romantically entangled. All of this swirls together like a nutty 1970s Mexican soap, complete with flimsy-looking sets and a sparky mariachi score.

Continue reading: I'm So Excited! [Los Amantes Pasajeros] Review