Almodovar's intense style and unusually rich sense of imagery have always been very appealing to me, not to mention that he often focuses on women. Many people judged the film to be too mediocre to compare with his earlier works such as All About My Mother. However, I appreciate the gentleness and purity that he showed this time. Death, incest, murder, etc. are mixed with enough black elements, and Amo can still conjure a colorful film. He allows the elements of commercial films to be hidden in the film without being a selling point at all, and by showing the lives of those different women and their inextricable connections, the film always maintains a bright tone.
The women in "Return" are purer mothers, daughters, and sisters, and all men are excluded in a more straightforward and decisive way. In order to survive, women struggle in this society in their own way, and judge the world around them with their own values. They are roughly divided into two roles, innocent victims or powerless, and "criminals" evolved from victims. Death is a theme of the film and a haze that haunts three generations of women. But when they deal with death, they have an extraordinary calmness. Unlike the exaggerated expressions and nervous nerves of Hollywood heroines, the women of Almodovar are simply and decisive. Setting fires, digging pits, collecting corpses, everything seemed to happen righteously and as it should be. The director is quietly telling a story full of mystery, but it achieves the purpose of making the audience more immersed in the daily life of those women.
I wrote these words indifferently, just because I was bewitched by Cruz this time. As an aside, although she is beautiful, there is no poster or photo that attracts me, because only the fresh Penélope, the Penélope in the movie, is truly irresistible and brilliant.
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