Quantity:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

"A powerful piece of work..."

Written By: Roberto Frangie

In spite of being driven to the top rank of art cinema directors with his critically acclaimed sensation "About My Mother," and being unlike other directors of equivalent status who have been chosen to work within the rootless world of the international co-productions, Almod³var has remained instilled in the rich culture of his native Spain...

In "Talk to Her" the two main protagonists are men, unusually for Almod³var, whose films have been notable for a succession of powerful and striking female roles... Benigno is a male nurse who is employed to care for a dancer (Alicia) in a coma after a car accident... At the private clinic he meets Marco, a journalist who is in love with Lydia, a female bullfighter also in a coma after being gored by a bull... They become friends and Benigno persuades Marco that he must talk to Lydia, even if she cannot hear (therefore the title). But then we lean that the likable and amiable Benigno has raped Alicia, the woman who is in love with her...

European art cinema has a great tradition but an uncertain future in the world increasingly dominated by Hollywood... Almod³var is an ornament of European culture which proved that the form still has much to say about the human condition and can say it with charm, elegance, and attractiveness...

"Good, but Depressing"

Written By: Magda Linares

I love the absurdity of Almodovar films like Women on the Verge of the Nervous Breakdown. I enjoyed Volver very much; it had a cohesive plot and excellent performances, but also some of the comedy and absurdity of his previous movies. "Talk to Her" was well done, cohesive and excellently acted. I was particularly taken with the performance, in perfect Spanish, of Geraldine Chaplin. Although I enjoyed the movie and it is worth watching, it was not what I expected from Almodovar because all the characters seem to be damaged and have very sad lives. Consequently, it was depressing to me. I would rather be entertained by his films that contain absurd and humorous characters and situations.

"unconventional loves"

Written By: Robert J. Crawford

Anything by Almodovor is worth seeing, but he does have a weird idea of love. This drama was unexpected for me: most of the time, the love objects are in a coma, with more than half of the action taken up in the static atmosphere of a hospital: one man, unable to form relationships, loves his charge as a nurse to an absurd point; the other spends his time talking to his comatose girlfriend, but befriends the other man and also begins to love his patient.

While the story has psychological depth and a wonderfully consistent mood, I admit that I did not find it very interesting, when compared to his other films. There is little humor in it, the characters are so strange that I wondered why we should be concerned about them for 2 hours, and the emotions portrayed are extremely rarified to say the least.

"can you really talk to her?"

Written By: Daniel B. Clendenin

This film begins in one place by provoking questions about whether life in a persistent vegetative state is truly life, and whether and how a loved one might relate, if at all, to a person in a coma. Marco is a travel writer whose girlfriend Lydia is in a coma. When he asks the doctor whether there is any hope, the doctor responds, "Medically or scientifically, no, but if you choose to believe, go ahead." The male nurse Benigno does believe. He truly loves the dancer Alicia, who is a patient of his also in a coma. He talks to her, baths her, cuts her hair, and tenderly cares for her. He tells Marcos that the last four years caring for her have been the richest and most rewarding years of his life. The film would have been good enough with just this trajectory, but director Pedro Almodovar drives three of these four subjects toward entirely unexpected and ambiguous ends that leave you with many more answers than questions. In Spanish with English subtitles.

"Talk to Her"

Written By: John Farr

A slyly subversive ode to love in all its myriad forms, Almod³var's "Talk to Her" is an intimate, involving tale that examines the dark and even perverse nature of masculinity with great compassion. As always, Almod³var coaxes exemplary performances from his actors, especially Grandinetti--whose teary Marco is movingly guilt-ridden about Lydia's injuries--and Camara, playing a naive man whose obsessive attachment to Alicia takes a black-comic turn. With its striking visual flair and even a mini silent-film fantasy evoking Buster Keaton, "Talk to Her" is an audacious love fable with an enormous heart.