brief movie reviews: so this past weekend, we rented a couple of movies. one i'd heartily recommend to you and the other, i wouldn't.
all about my mother, directed by pedro almodovar, is just as good as all of the critics made it out to be. i'd describe it as a spanish steel magnolias but with prostitutes and transsexuals but i'd fear insulting the movie. for even with its she-males, it's a far more real and even less manipulative movie than steel magnolias; it's also a lot smarter too. it's the story of a single mother, manuela, and her teen son, esteban, a big fan of the theater and of writing. on his birthday, while attempting to get the autograph of a stage actress on a rainy night, he's struck down by a car.
manuela goes to barcelona in search of the past, and while there she encounters an old friend, agrado, a prostitute with a big heart; rosa, a young nun with a secret; and huma, the actress her son loved so. there are sly nods to all about eve and a streetcar named desire, but they don't serve as the basis for the movie, they merely add to it. it's a tale of lives lost and hope regained: if you're a guy, or even a gal who hates chick flicks, don't be put off by the predominantly female cast. while there is some female bonding, the appeal and beauty of all about my mother transcends gender, language, and race. it's a must-rent.
felicia's journey, on the other hand, is not. i had great hopes for this film -- the trailer looked good, hoskins is a great actor, and egoyan is a very fine director. however, while i did find myself interested for most of the movie, i ended up waiting for a climax that never really came. i never really understood hilditch's (hoskins) plans for felicia nor did i think that the flashback scenes to his childhood explained that much. with its dreamy visuals and first-rate acting, it makes for entertaining and often compelling viewing, but i left the movie with a fairly hollow feeling: not the hollow feeling one often gets when they see something so wracking that they feel like their guts have been torn out, but the hollow feeling one gets when they invest a lot of time and attention into a film that leaves them cold. i can not recommend this one, unless you're a big fan of the william trevor novel it's based on.
(c) 2000 - fred solinger
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