Volver: 2006: Pedro Almodovar
Volver is a dark movie with bright colors and a flair for feminine consanguinity, and throughout the film a sort of gruesome gaeity revels in how death changes our life.
Penolope Cruz plays Raimunda, one of two sisters nursing their dying aunt and still dealing with their mothers death. Raimunda is also a mother in a complicated marital situation. That’s all I’ll say, as to avoid spoiling the plot. She is fine in this film, but she is constantly upstaged by death. Death is center to the film’s various plots, with the title name “Volver” translating as “to come back, return.” The deceased weave their way around the line separating this world from the next in such a matter that the two almost meld on screen.
Death is grandiose here, and with it comes immediate life-changing opportunities. With four deaths forming the film’s plot, a woman opens a restaurant after her husband dies, and a mother flees town after a charred body is assumed hers. Almodovar crafts a quirky family of women who love each other, but only truly come to life in the cradle of death.
The most moving scene in Volver oddly comes when Raimunda realizes her dead mother is actually still with her, in the house, realized by smelling the familiar scent of her flatulence. Viva Almodovar.
Trailer:
(NOTE: This was my contribution to a feature that ran @NintendoLife about the 25th Anniversary of the NES. I just wanted to archive these memories for myself.) The first video game I ever saw was Kung-Fu for the NES. My older sister’s friend down the street had just gotten the system, so she kindly escorted [...]
What if a deranged Santa Robot decided we all didn’t deserve gifts this year? Mega Man would come and bust ‘em up, that’s what! AceSparks of Sprite Inc. has re-imagined Charles Dicken’s classic, A Christmas Carol into a Mega Man game where the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, Future and Jacob Marley are evil robots [...]
Mario may be the master of Mushroom Kingdom, but that hasn’t stopped programmer Jay Pavlina from dragging other classic NES icons into goomba territory in his new aptly-titled game Super Mario Bros. Crossover. In this undefinabley-awesome act of retro bliss, players get the chance to rampage through all the levels of the original Super Mario [...]
