Recco of the week: Almodovar's Volver

Mumbai: The Academy's always had something of a soft spot for Spanish maestro Pedro Almodovar, and come February, I think they're going to show just how much they love him.

Almodovar's latest film Volver, made in his native tongue, Spanish, is a film I suspect will snag a nomination not only in the Best Foreign Language Film category but at least in a few main categories too.

Now the exact English translation of the word Volver is "to return", and really that's exactly what Almodovar's new film is essentially about. To be honest, it's never quite easy to summarise an Almodovar film in a few lines because they're always so many different things all at once.

The remarkable thing about his movies is that they're never what they seem like on the outside. And that's true of Volver too.

Featuring an ensemble cast of primarily female characters, the story starts with a sexual assault, an act of violence and the cover-up, which follows it, but we're not so concerned with crime and punishment as we are with the relationships between mothers and daughters, sisters and friends.

In this film about three generations of women, Penelope Cruz plays Raimunda, a housewife who works menial jobs to support her teenage daughter and her deadbeat husband three years after the death of her mother.

Raimunda's sister is lonely, and her friend who suffers from cancer is disturbed over the disappearance of her own mother. Without saying too much about the intricate plot, let me just say that the film's central theme is that of Raimunda's efforts to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, and her mother's efforts to atone for them.

If you're familiar with Almodovar's cinema, you'll understand that I've told you enough already about the plot, because really it's like an onion waiting to be peeled, waiting for layer after layer to be revealed.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the film belongs to Penelope Cruz who has never before seemed so comfortable in a role as she does playing Raimunda. It's also such an eye-opening experience because watching her performance in this film you're able to understand exactly how little Hollywood has been able to use her talent.

A Best Actress nomination is almost certain for Penelope Cruz, and if you ask me, they must include a new category this year to honour Best Supporting Features for which they have to include Penelope's cleavage which is on full display here and gets just as much screen-time in close-ups as do most of the other characters.

But jokes aside, Volver is rich in subtext, and it's highly engrossing. I have no idea if the film will release theatrically in India, because I can't remember if any Almodovar films have been released at our cinemas. However, look out for it on DVD in a few months, it's a picture you'll sink your teeth into and relish with pleasure.

At the Oscars, apart from a Best Foreign Language nomination and a Best Actress nod for Penelope Cruz, expect a Best Original Screenplay nomination, Best Director for Almodovar perhaps, and if the Academy warms upto it as much as I suspect they might, then a Best Film nomination may not be such an improbability perhaps.

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#Pedro Almodovar #Volver #Penelope Cruz #Hollywood