Broken Embraces (***1/4)

Pedro Almodóvar continues to give melodrama a good name with this sometimes lighthearted effort that also pays tribute to his love of cinema. I could have sworn that Harry Caine (Lluís Homar, of Almodóvar’s Bad Education), the name of the blind main character, was taken from an old Hitchcock movie. It’s not, but is a pseudonym explained, along with the blindness, in flashback scenes that form the bulk of the movie. Penelopé Cruz (in her fourth film for Almodóvar) appears as the mistress of a powerful older man who’s financing a film with her in the lead and with Caine (aka Mateo Blanco) as director. Blanca Portillo, who appeared with Cruz in Almodóvar’s most recent film, Volver, plays Harry/Mateo’s agent and confidant. Danger and duplicity fuel the unfolding mystery, about which saying more would detract.

Almodóvar’s recent films radiate a kind of joy even when the situation is melancholy. It’s as if by giving voice to his characters’ emotionality he is celebrating humanity. In this case there is also the joy in moviemaking. He has seemingly stopped making full-on comedies—the film-within-a-film here operating as a sort of tribute to the old Pedro—but humor makes its way into this story too, as well as jealousy, romance, regret, and redemption. Balancing the dark themes, it’s figuratively and literally colorful. Broken Embraces isn’t particularly deep, but Almodóvar has a vivid way with his characters and stories, whose only formula seems particular to their creator.

IMDB link

viewed 1/23/10 at Ritz 5 and reviewed 2/7–3/1/10

Blindsight (**1/2)

More inspiring than compelling, this documentary tells the story of six blind Tibetan teens who set out to climb a peak near Mount Everest. The attempt was the brainchild of Erik Weihenmayer, who’d been the first blind person to climb Everest. Weihenmayer had been invited to visit Tibet by Sabriye Tenberken, a German native, also blind, who had singlehandedly created a braille alphabet for Tibetans and begun a program called Braille Without Borders to teach blind children English and other subjects. Tenberken is an amazing woman whose own story probably would have been worth devoting more time to. The superstition surrounding blindness in Tibet—it’s typically regarded as a punishment for the sins in a past life—makes her work all the more valuable. As for the movie, the footage of the mountain is striking, and the conflict between the goals of the students and their sighted guides brings the story to a somewhat surprising conclusion. But I felt like a long 60 Minutes segment probably would have done it as much justice.

IMDB link

viewed 3/11/08; reviewed 3/13/08