Review of Volver (2006) by Armonda. — 15 Apr 2007

Can you believe it... The brilliant Almodovar has written a really spicy episode of L & O: SVU. He has been careful to include all the elements found in the best adventures of the "Panty Police", such as multigenerational sexual abuse of teenage girls, murder, and very dark family secrets.

The problem that I have with this film is that it presents a familiar stew as if no one had ever heard of anything like it. It's not the auteur's fault that a dreadful social problem has been turned into a cud for bovine tv watchers.

But it IS his fault that he seems unaware that his big "reveal" is a cliche. Perhaps he could follow up with a story about an amazing fellow who makes his living by killing people on contract.

He needn't concern himself with the over-representation of the "hit man" in popular fiction. ( I think that if we were to tabulate all occupations represented in contemporary fiction, the "hit man" would out-rank them all, except perhaps for the "serial killer", the "pimp", and that great oxymoron--the "Porn Star".

I did enjoy "Tie Me Up...", which employed that well-known figure of everyday life, the Escaped Mental Patient and Sexual Pervert, so it may be that mass culture has caught up with the creative artist in terms of speaking openly about matters that once were too impolite to discuss in "mixed company".