Michael's Movie Grade: A+
An absolutely lovely film.
Pedro Almodóvar is one of my favorite filmmakers and his first feature length English language movie (though he has directed some short films in English) does not disappoint. Almodóvar is known for always bringing out the best in his actresses as well as working with the best actresses in movies. Here he works with two incredible great actresses Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. Needless to say, these two give wonderful performances here. Not only are both of them at the top of their game here but they also play off each other perfectly. You completely believe the friendship between these two and feel a deep connection whenever they share the screen. This makes it so that you grow deeply attached to both these characters as well and your heart breaks with them and you feel both their sadness and joy. Yet this movie is not simply made of big dramatic moments. It is in fact the quieter and less eventful moments that really make the film work. Almodóvar understands that when you have great actresses like these, sometimes you just want to stop and spend time with them. This is helped by smart dialogue (for a filmmaker who doesn't work much in English, the dialogue is often perfect here) that the actresses handle like the pros they are. This dialogue often takes a deep meditative look at death, while celebrating life at the same time. This manages to be a film about death that is not only heartbreaking but uplifting at the same time. The result is something incredible touching, intelligent and poetic.
The music by Alberto Iglesias (who also did music for such Almodóvar films, The Flower of My Secret (1995), Live Flesh (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Talk to Her (2002), Bad Education (2004), Volver (2006), Broken Embraces (2009) and The Skin I Live In (2011)) is also really beautiful and captures the film's meditative feel.
A real must watch.
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