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Pedro Almodóvar Archives - Page 2 of 2 - ShowBizCafe.com

Pedro Almodóvar Archives - Page 2 of 2 - ShowBizCafe.com

Mack Chico

By

2009/03/24 at 12:00am

Broken Embraces’ box office woes

03.24.2009 | By |

Broken Embraces' box office woes

Pedro Almodovar‘s latest film Broken Embraces took $1.3m in its opening weekend at the Spanish box office, a full $1m less than his previous offering Volver, following a mixed response from critics.

The film was released nationwide in Spain by Warner Bros on March 18 and had taken $1.9m by end of play Sunday (March 22). It is in second place in the local box office chart behind Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino.

However that chart position belies the fact that Broken Embraces’ opening figures are Almodovar’s lowest since 1999’s All About My Mother, which took $1.1m in its opening weekend. Since then, Talk To Her ($1.4), Bad Education ($1.6m) and Volver ($2.3m) have all taken more.

Furthermore, the $1.3m figure pales in comparison to Alejandro Amenebar‘s latest Spanish-language film The Sea Inside, which took an impressive $3.1m in its opening weekend in 2004.

That said, All About My Mother went on to gross the same amount of money as Volver at the local box office ($13m), so Broken Embraces might still perform well if word of mouth is good.

The film itself is a complex, romantic drama about an actress (Penelope Cruz) who strikes up a relationship with the director of her film (Lluis Homar) behind the back of her rich older boyfriend (Jose Luis Gomez), with several major repercussions.

Mack Chico

By

2009/03/20 at 12:00am

First review of ‘Broken Embraces’

03.20.2009 | By |

First review of 'Broken Embraces'

Variety’s review of Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces:

Partly a film about films and partly a film about love, Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces” can’t quite decide where its allegiances lie. A restless, rangy and frankly enjoyable genre-juggler that combines melodrama, comedy and more noir-hued darkness than ever before, the pic is held together by the extraordinary force of Almodovar’s cinematic personality. But while its four-way in extremis love story dazzles, it never really catches fire. The Spanish helmer’s biggest-budgeted and longest movie to date will get warm hugs from local auds on release March 18; headed for Cannes in May, it goes out Stateside via Sony Pictures Classics later this year.

There’s a sense here that Almodovar, who’s now a stylistic law unto himself, may be more interested in stretching himself technically than in engaging with issues of the wider world. Card-carrying fans can prepare themselves for a rare treat. But those who hoped the pic would extend the quieter, more personal mood shown in “Volver,” as the 59-year-old helmer moves into the late phase of his career, will be disappointed to find that “Embraces” is made not of flesh and blood, but of celluloid.

Harry Caine (Lluis Homar, “Bad Education”) is a blind screenwriter and former director whose real name, which he abandoned after losing his sight in a car crash, is Mateo Blanco. News arrives of the death of corrupt stockbroker Ernesto Martel (Jose Luis Gomez), who once produced a movie Blanco directed, “Girls and Suitcases.”

Blanco’s former production manager, Judit (Blanca Portillo), who holds a candle for him, seems nervous at the news. And then a pretentious young man calling himself Ray X (Ruben Ochandiano), who turns out to be Martel’s son, asks Blanco to help write a script that’s intended as an act of vengeance against his neglectful father.

The film now flashes back to 1992, when Martel fell for his secretary, a wannabe actress-cum-part-time call girl, Lena (Penelope Cruz). By 1994, he and Lena are an item. However, when Lena auditions for “Girls and Suitcases,” Blanco also falls for her.

Chagrined, Martel gets his son (also Ochandiano, here as a wildly gauche, camp teenager) to spy on Blanco and Lena under the guise of making a docu about the shoot. Watching Martel’s life fall apart, as a lip reader (Lola Duenas) decodes Lena and Blanco’s conversations in the boy’s footage, is hilarious. But any compassion for Martel evaporates in the laughter — one of several moments when the film deliberately undermines a particular mood.

Following a disastrous trip to Ibiza, Martel and Lena break up, and Martel initiates a slow, costly revenge designed to destroy Blanco. Hereon, much of the action takes place amid the volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote, opening things visually even as the drama becomes more and more claustrophobic.

Script moves fluidly back and forth in time, with superb editing by regular Jose Salcedo, and some of the witty, pointed dialogue is among Almodovar’s best. The labyrinthine plot is thick with twists, turns and resonances. But a couple of questions linger — especially that the revelations in the final reel would hardly have remained under wraps for 14 years, given Blanco’s suspicions.

Cruz delivers a compelling, subtle perf as a woman continually aware that the shadow of tragedy hovers over her. But because her character is effectively split into three — Magdalena the grieving daughter, Lena the actress and lover, and Pina in “Girls and Suitcases” — auds will struggle to locate an emotional center behind the thesp’s dizzying range of costumes and wigs.

Homar, who literally wears Almodovar’s own ’90s wardrobe, makes a commanding screen presence as Caine/Blanco, but the character’s reactions to his multiple tragedies (including being blinded) seem stoical to the point of catatonia. Gomez and Portillo are solid in theslightly smaller roles of Martel and Judit, respectively. Multiple cameos — including one by the helmer’s producer brother, Agustin — are enjoyable, though none help move the story forward.

Visually, the pic is an exquisite treat. Every richly hued wall is covered with eye-candy artwork, every doorway reps a second level of framing, and there is beauty even in the scattered contents of a drawer or in a pile of torn-up photos. Closeups are regularly used, particularly of Cruz’s hypnotically photogenic features.

Cinematic references abound. Several scenes featuring dangerous staircases recall Henry Hathaway‘s ’40s noir “Kiss of Death.” Pic’s title alludes to the Pompeii scene in Roberto Rossellini‘s 1954 classic, “Voyage to Italy,” which Lena and Blanco watch in Lanzarote. And the entertaining “Girls and Suitcases” is a clear homage to Almodovar’s 1988 hit, “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.” Score by longtime collaborator Alberto Iglesias superbly evokes the moods and movies “Embraces” is so in thrall to.

Camera (color, widescreen), Rodrigo Prieto; editor, Jose Salcedo; music, Alberto Iglesias; art director, Antxon Gomez, sound (Dolby Digital), Miguel Rejas. Reviewed at Kinepolis, Madrid, March 13, 2009. Running time: 128 MIN.

Jack Rico

By

2009/03/12 at 12:00am

Exclusive! 7 scenes from ‘Broken Embraces’!

03.12.2009 | By |

Exclusive! 7 scenes from 'Broken Embraces'!

If you’re a Pedro Almodovar fan or a Penelope Cruz fan, you are in for a treat. We have just obtained 7 exclusive scenes from ‘Broken Embraces’, movie which will be released in the U.S on November 6th, 2009. These scenes tell a bit more than what both the teaser and the theatrical trailers have shown. We don’t see too much of Penelope, rather the secondary actors led by Blanca Portillo and Lluís Homar.

This is Almodovar’s first ‘film noir’. He has gone to extreme measures to make sure the film feels old, yet modern. Many of the scenes are interconnected with a wonderful and magical score that should be one of the best of the year. It really sets a dark and mysterious tone to the whole film. John Huston would be jealous today. To see and read more, check out our comprehensive ‘Broken Embraces’ film page.

Jack Rico

By

2009/03/04 at 12:00am

Official posters of ‘Broken Embraces’ revealed

03.4.2009 | By |

Official posters of 'Broken Embraces' revealed

November 6 is the release of Pedro Almodovar’s ‘Broken Embraces’ in the US and film products from the movie are beginning to be unveiled by Pedro himself. We just obtained these new official posters of the film which are designed in a ‘Warholesque’ way.

The film reteams Almodovar with Penelope Cruz and the plot itself gives you a little more insight into the design:

Broken Embraces is a four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of ’50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled, and will mix references to works like Nicholas Ray’s “In a Lonely Place” and Vincente Minnelli’s “The Bad and the Beautiful,” with signature Almodóvar themes such as Fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers.

The international teaser trailer is already available right here on our site, but I am sure it won’t be too long before we start to hear more and more as it debuts in Spain on March 18 and has a slow international roll until its end-of-year domestic release.

Here are the posters – enjoy!

 

Mack Chico

By

2009/03/03 at 12:00am

‘Broken Embraces’: First stills from the film

03.3.2009 | By |

'Broken Embraces': First stills from the film

New photos from Pedro Almodóvar‘s “Broken Embraces” starring Penélope Cruz have popped up online and they give us some further clues and insights to the semi-secretive noir.

What we do learn from these photos is that ‘Embraces’ reunites much of the fantastic cast of “Volver” including Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo and Chus Lampreave.

Once again the synopsis: Broken Embraces is a four-way tale of amour-fou, shot in the style of ’50s American film noir at its most hard-boiled, and will mix references to works like Nicholas Ray’s In a Lonely Place and Vincente Minnelli’s The Bad and the Beautiful, with signature Almodovar themes such as fate, the mystery of creation, guilt, unscrupulous power, the eternal search of fathers for sons, and sons for fathers.”

Cruz said the role was one of her most difficult and challenging to date and it appears she had to go to some tough emotional places, but in Almodovar — her loving and tough longtime collaborator — she trusts. “I don’t want to work with someone who tells me it’s perfect all the time,” she said. “If there’s a take he likes, he’s going to tell me and if there’s a take he doesn’t like he’s going to tell me about that too. And in the end that instills confidence. I prefer that way of working.”

“It’s been difficult for her psychologically,” Almodovar has said. “But fortunately for her there’s been no lasting effects.”

Here’s the pics, enjoy!

 

Mack Chico

By

2008/12/04 at 12:00am

Pedro Almodovar films to be showcased on new Latino film channel

12.4.2008 | By |

Pedro Almodovar films to be showcased  on new Latino film channel

In an unprecedented move by a Spanish-language pay-television channel, Cine Latino has finalized deals with five of the world’s leading film distributors, acquiring more than 90 new titles that include some of the most critically-acclaimed and biggest box office hits of recent years from across the U.S., Latin America, Mexico, and Spain.

Cine Latino has acquired major film packages from Sony, Disney, MGM, Lionsgate, and Gussi — the largest movie distributor in Mexico.

In another unparalleled move, Cine Latino has assembled the largest showcase of Pedro Almodovar films ever to be presented on a Spanish-language service. Titles include ‘Volver’, a Golden Globe nominee and winner of Best Actress and Best Screenplay at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival starring Penelope Cruz; ‘La Mala Educacion’ (“Bad Education”), one of Almodovar’s most serious works starring Gael Garcia Bernal; ‘Todo Sobre Mi Madre’ (“All About My Mother”), an Oscar-winning film starring Penelope Cruz; ‘Matador’ (“The Bullfighter”), an award-winning film with Antonio Banderas and Assumpta Serna; and ‘Atame!’ (“Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!”), a love drama starring Antonio Banderas and Victoria Abril. The Almodovar films will be available exclusively on Cine Latino.

Sample newly-acquired titles include:

— ‘El Crimen Del Padre Amaro’ (“The Crime of Father Amaro”), the Oscar-nominated, highest-grossing film in the history of Mexican cinema, starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Ana Claudia Talancon.

— ‘American Visa’, based on the best-selling book in Bolivia, starring Damian Bichir and Kate Del Castillo (from “La Misma Luna”). Winner of Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2006 Ariel Awards in Mexico.

— ‘Ninas Mal’ (“Charm School”), one of the most popular Mexican movies of 2007 starring four of Mexico’s favorite young actresses: Camila Sodi, Martha Higareda, Ximena Sarinana, and Maria Aura.

— ‘Secuestro Express’ (“Express Kidnapping”), the critically-acclaimed, box office hit from Venezuela, starring Mia Maestro and Ruben Blades.

— ‘Bluff’, a comedic thriller from Colombia that was presented at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, starring Victor Mallarino, Veronica Orozco and Carolina Gomez. Bluff was the highest-grossing Columbian movie of 2007.

— ‘Cansada de Besar Sapos’ (“Tired of Kissing Frogs”), one of the highest-grossing Mexican films of all time starring Juan Manuel Bernal, Itati Cantoral and Pedro Damian.

Mack Chico

By

2008/10/21 at 12:00am

Almodovar has a home in the USA

10.21.2008 | By |

Almodovar has a home in the USA

Sony has officially picked up Pedro Almodovar‘s ‘Broken Embraces’. Pathe Distribution has picked up rights in the U.K., France, Belgium and Switzerland.

Cineart has taken Dutch rights.

Pathe has distribbed all of Almodovar’s pics since “All About My Mother,” including “Talk to Her,” “Bad Education” and “Volver.”

“The deal was effortless,” said Damien Golla, Pathe’s director of trade and theater marketing department. “We have a great relationship with Almodovar and we trust him completely.”

“Broken Embraces,” which stars “Volver” thesp Penelope Cruz, will be released next spring.

Shot in the style of an American film noir, pic shot in Madrid and the Canary Islands and is now in post.

Pedro Almodovar’s shingle, El Deseo, co-owned by his brother Augustin Almodovar, has retained Spanish rights.

Other territories are being sold by Focus Features International.

Mack Chico

By

2008/09/08 at 12:00am

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