Review: Parallel Mothers

Two unmarried women (Penelope Cruz, Milena Smit) are about to give birth in the same hospital and form a bond despite a fairly significant age difference. Some time after the birth, photographer Cruz feels something is up with her new baby. She just can’t help shake this uneasy feeling, especially since the baby looks neither like her nor the father (Israel Elejalde). So she arranges a covert DNA test and learns something most extraordinary and heartbreaking. Almodovar regular Rossy De Palma plays Cruz’s best friend.

 

Along with Jesus Franco and Hong Kong Cat III films, Pedro Almodovar (“Tie Me Up!, Tie Me Down!”, “Dark Habits”) was my very strange and kinky introduction to foreign-language cinema as a teenager, and the only one of the three with any kind of critical credibility. The former ‘Spanish bad boy’ and now critical darling has had a very eclectic career. I loved “The Skin I Live In”, and the likes of “All About My Mother” and “Talk to Her” were solid too, even if some might lament that the latter two were not nearly as naughty as his earlier work. His films overall for me have been wildly erratic, but with the exception of “Pepi, Luci, and Bom”, I certainly don’t think you could claim that his films are dull, whatever else you make of them. This 2021 drama from the writer-director is not one of his better nor more memorable efforts. An uneven mixture of soap opera and issues related to Spanish Civil War history, I think Spaniards might take to this one more enthusiastically than I certainly did.

 

I found it a bit underwhelming, and the first and final ten minutes are choppy and quite unsatisfying. In particular the ending is a complete head-scratcher. I don’t think the Spanish Civil War stuff is given enough emphasis in the plot to warrant this particular ending while the relationships end on a rather murky note too. It also seems that the naughty Almodovar of old has vanished here, an early sex scene seems chaste and mainstream, as it features no nudity and barely even any sex. Same thing later with a sapphic love scene that actually starts out hot but doesn’t go far enough nor is there any nudity at all. “Tie Me Up!, Tie Me Down!” really is a lifetime ago it seems. With most other filmmakers I wouldn’t make a point of it because it’s hardly essential, but if you’re Almodovar and you’re putting that sort of material in there…man, you gotta go all the way with it surely. To be honest, as cute and ripe with potential as the initial concept is, I don’t think there’s ultimately a whole heck of a lot here. It’s well-acted, but in terms of plot and character, there’s not much new here.

 

A cute idea that isn’t taken anywhere terribly interesting. It looks very colourful as you’d expect from Almodovar, but I was ultimately a bit underwhelmed by the experience. OK, but nothing more.

 

Rating: C+

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Boyka: Undisputed

Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) is out of prison and fighting for a living, with ambitions for the ‘Most Complete Fighter’ to make a real name for himself. However, after an opponent dies during a fight, the deeply religious Boyka starts to have a crisis of conscience. He tries to make amends with the man’s widow, which eventually pits him against a local gangster (Alon Moni Aboutboul, quite good). Anything with Scott Adkins will generally get me interested, and although this series peaked with the superlative “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , this 2017 film from director Todor Chapkanov (director of the SyFy movies “Copperhead” and “Ghost Town” ) is no slouch in a series yet to deliver anything less than solid entertainment. Producer Isaac Florentine is missed in the director’s chair, but Chapkanov gives us at the very least the series’ most dramatically ambitious entry, as Adkins’ ‘most complete fighter’ Yuri Boyka continues on his journey to redemption here. In this one, the
Read more

Review: Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear

Scott Adkins is once again Casey, an American proponent of the martial art of Ninjutsu. When Casey’s pregnant Japanese wife (Mika Hijii) is rubbed out, he’s on a vengeance mission to find her killers. A friendly face, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) turns up at the funeral, and suggests Casey come to Thailand to deal with his grief in another country. Casey initially declines, but eventually takes Nakabara up on his offer. However, his wife’s murder still haunts Casey, and with intel supplied by Nakabara, the trail eventually leads Casey to a brutal drug baron named Goro (Shun Sugata).   I was extremely disappointed with the first “Ninja” , but had heard that this 2013 sequel from director Isaac Florentine ( “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , “Undisputed III: Redemption” , “Ninja” ) was a damn near masterpiece of the martial-arts action movie genre. Having now finally gotten my hot little hands on it, I’d say the hype is a bit much, but this is unquestionably a much better film than the f
Read more