Madres paralelas

Almodovar's gift is to take a soap-opera storyline - two mothers and their babies - and give it a glossy sheen that makes it seem almost fresh. All the cast take their roles seriously. Penelope Cruz is the best of them; on screen she has an incandescence that reminds me of Sophia Loren's early films.

There's a background story in which Cruz's lover is trying to get permission to excavate the grave of some villagers savagely killed in the early years of the Civil War. I rather wish that this had been given more screen time. The final scene of this movie is nothing less than magnificent.

There's a lot to enjoy about Parallel Mothers.

It has terrific performances, with Penelope Cruz stealing the show. The direction is so clean, crisp and stylish. It has a brilliant score.

The story is maybe the only area where I felt it was lacking. At times for me it was a little messy and had a few too many directions and prongs. There was a nice contrast in themes with the focus on the past set against new motherhood, but it was a little too disparate for me.

Despite this I did enjoy the story and film a lot. At its peak there were some gut wrenching emotional moments with razor sharp dialogue throughout.

Very good turn by Pedro Almodovar, one of his best films of the last years.

Its a very unpredictable film that seemingly is about a certain topic and turns out to deliver something completely different. An interesting experiment that pays off very well because at one point you realize to watch a completely different movie than you thought you would. Genius.

The acting was great. I really loved Penelope Cruz who was as expected great. Almodovar truly knows how to put his muse in scene. But also Milena Smit was great and both had a wonderful on screen chemistry. Its a fantastic screenplay and had many good elements like a very decent cinematography and great score.

One little issues I had with it was that it had several loose ends, but I think thats because of the nature of the film and how it is written so I think its nothing big to blame it for. I really enjoyed the characters, although they sometimes made weird decsisions but they were extremely well created. A must see and a typical Pedro Almodovar, although not a very typical movie.

Two women put in the same room in a hospital during labour form a friendship. One is a successful photographer the other is a lonely ignored single child of a famous actress.

Janice is also trying to get the mass grave of her great grandfather exhumed but the Spanish civil war historical memory law is making that difficult.

This is a great movie of complex situations and how two women have to deal with the realities of the cards life has dealt them.

Penelope Cruz is up for an Oscar for this role, in my mind well deserved.

This film needs to be watched a few times to make sense of the deep themes in this theme. It has a similar weight and depth to previous films of his such as Volver. The concept of origins, birth and death, uncovering hidden histories and the difficulty of living with a questionable legacy.

It seems to ask questions of contemporary Spain and serves as a snapshot of the national mood. How does it come to terms with its difficult history while still living in the present era? A thought-provoking and emotionally powerful film shot in his signature style.