I saw "Broken Embraces" not knowing much about it other than it's by Pedro Almodovar, which in itself is enough reason for me to go see it. He's one of my favorite directors and there hasn't been a film I've seen of his that I didn't enjoy. But this one, for me, is easily one of his best endeavors, as far as the portion of his work I've seen (most of his films from the 1990s and every feature from this decade).
It even rivals "All About My Mother," which is still my favorite Almodovar film (and which happens to be the first one I saw). I found the story and the characters in "Embraces" to be quite engrossing, though sometimes the plot was a bit complicated (nothing that future showings wouldn't help unravel though). But what's an Almodovar film without juicy layers of complexity, right? I appreciate the fact that no major character, save for Diego, is flawless. A viewer can sympathize with a given character in one scene then hate him or her in a later scene because of their behavior and treatment of others, etc.
Hopefully, soon a box set of this director's films will be released, preferably on Blu-ray (I would imagine that would be inevitable). I would love to have this film in one package that also includes "All About My Mother," "Bad Education," "Live Flesh," "The Flower of My Secret" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." (assuming the distribution rights to all those titles are held by one studio, which I'm not sure of).
It even rivals "All About My Mother," which is still my favorite Almodovar film (and which happens to be the first one I saw). I found the story and the characters in "Embraces" to be quite engrossing, though sometimes the plot was a bit complicated (nothing that future showings wouldn't help unravel though). But what's an Almodovar film without juicy layers of complexity, right? I appreciate the fact that no major character, save for Diego, is flawless. A viewer can sympathize with a given character in one scene then hate him or her in a later scene because of their behavior and treatment of others, etc.
Hopefully, soon a box set of this director's films will be released, preferably on Blu-ray (I would imagine that would be inevitable). I would love to have this film in one package that also includes "All About My Mother," "Bad Education," "Live Flesh," "The Flower of My Secret" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." (assuming the distribution rights to all those titles are held by one studio, which I'm not sure of).