Review: Broken Embraces

Lluis Homar stars as a blind writer going by the pen name Harry Caine, who used to be a filmmaker under his real name Mateo Blanco. The film flashes back to the mid 90s as we discover a tragedy from his past, and learn why he ended up changing his name to Harry Caine. He fell in love with the star of his latest film, Lena (Penelope Cruz), a former prostitute whose jealous rich lover acted as producer on the film (At the beginning of the film, in the present day, we find that the producer has just died). All of this is relayed to young Diego (Tamar Novas), the son of his production manager Judit (Blanca Portillo), the latter of whom checks in on Mateo from time to time and is clearly devoted to him. Ruben Ochandiano plays the mysterious ‘Ray X’, apparently a screenwriter who wants Mateo’s help on a script that seems like an act of revenge against an insufferable father. However, Mr. X is really a figure from Mateo’s past come back to haunt and potentially hurt him. Or does he have other motives altogether?

 

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar (“Tie Me Up!, Tie Me Down!”, “The Skin I Live In”, “Talk to Her”) seems to be maturing over the years, but that doesn’t mean that all of his most recent work is better than some of his wilder and more unrefined work. “Volver”, for instance, was a silly little film that I didn’t enjoy at all (Aside from that and his seriously dull debut film “Pepi, Luci, and Bom”, all of his films are at least watchable). This 2009 film from the writer-director isn’t that bad, in fact it’s pretty watchable, but I did find it far too predictable, after an interesting start. The mystery (or perhaps ‘secrets’ is a more precise word), frankly, wasn’t all that mysterious to me, though how it all managed to remain a mystery, was certainly mysterious- and implausible.

 

Also, the performance by Ruben Ochandiano as ‘Ray X’ is corny as hell, not helped by the worst wig you’ve ever seen, in the flashback scenes. Almodovar films tend to be melodramatic at the best of times, but I just found him awfully silly and jarring in an otherwise pretty serious, rather sad film. Nothing with this character worked for me.

 

That said, both Penelope Cruz (who has never looked more gorgeous) and especially Lluis Homar (who isn’t my type) are terrific, and there some fine moments, especially at the beginning. That scene early on when Mateo asks a girl that he took home with him to describe herself, is just beautiful. A borderline pervy scene as well, but that’s Almodovar for you.

 

Overall, the material’s just not that compelling once it turns into a formula mystery, and perhaps some of the ‘old’ Almodovar might’ve helped spice it up. As is, it’s just a bit forgettable.

 

Rating: C+