Review of Broken Embraces (2009) by Kelly B — 14 Apr 2013

A romantic thriller of sorts, and a great one at that, Broken Embraces is full of excitement, romance, and a whole lot of melodrama. It tells the story (within a story) of Mateo Blanco, a director who fell in love with a married actress, but the actress's old and jealous husband was all too displeased with her affair.

Mateo ended up losing his lover and his eyesight, and now must recount the whole story to his young friend whilst unraveling the mysteries of his past in the process. Both Penélope Cruz and Lluis Homar are great as the two co-stars and, despite the movie's intentionally soapy storyline, their performances infuse it with an emotional and personal touch.

Oddly enough I enjoyed this much more than Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's previous film Volver, which was more critically-acclaimed but didn't really hold my interest as tightly as Broken Embraces did.

Nonetheless, Broken Embraces is a very enjoyable and consistently entertaining movie that is as exciting as it is accessible, and makes for another very good movie from Almodóvar.