2008 BEST PICTURE: No Country For Old Men

Cinemanyak Rating: 9.0/10
IMDB Rating: 8.6/10
Tomatometer: 94%
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Rating: 8.3/10
What's your rating? Post a comment below.

Awards and Accomplishments:
Best Picture, 2008 Oscar Awards
Best Direction, 2008 Oscar Awards
Best Supporting Actor (Javie Bardem), 2008 Oscar Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay, 2008 Oscar Awards
Nominated for Best Cinematography, 2008 Oscar Awards
Nominated for Palm D'or, 2007 Cannes Film Festival
Nominated for Best Picture, 2008 Golden Globes
Nominated for Best Director, 2008 Golden Globes
Best Supporting Actor, 2008 Golden Globes
Best Adapted Screenplay, 2008 Screen Golden Globes
Outstanding Cast Performance, 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards


The Oscar Best Picture for 2007.

No Country for Old Men is extraordinary. It even touched the line of weirdness. It feels like seeing Tarantino and Hitchcock in the same movie.

This is not your typical Oscar Best Picture. It is not an epic, neither your common dysfunctional film. It is dark and gloomy. But i personally find it uplifting, not because of its story or its plot. Its uplifting because it shows you how film making can be done with so much art. No Country stands out amidst the chaos of conventional Hollywood films. It's so refreshing to see.

Instead of going through each element in the film, I would like to write what I find interesting in No Country:

1) It's ok NOT to explain everything -- they even bothered to explain why those men were killed. Or who owns the money. The point is a psychopath wants to get that suitcase, and he would kill anyone who will prevent him from that. Forget the "why". Just hug the suspense and enjoy.

2) Acting is very important -- without the proper actors, No Country would look like Friday the 13!

3) End with a punch -- start a debate right after the film, even during the credits. A lot of eyebrows went up right after the abrupt ending of No Country. But hey, that made it so memorable. And i'll go back to point #1: know where to focus and be single-minded. Focus on the essentials and prevent too much side story. A film should not always cover a whole lifetime, know what point in a character's life you want to start -- and end -- your storytelling.

4) Hold the suspense -- i was literally covering my eyes with pillows in some scenes. This is how the film was able to hold the suspense. Without the Coen brothers' skill in directing, No Country will be a film full of non-sense. The way the film glues you in your seat is its strength (and it may be the reason why it won Best Direction and Best Picture).

No Country For Old Men is not an easy film to watch or appreciate. If ever you do watch it, remember that it is an art film. It must be seen with an open mind.

DAYBREAK: Respectable Gay Flick

Cinemanyak Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Rating: N/A
Tomatometer: N/A
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Rating: N/A
What's your rating? Post a comment below.

Seldom do I see a Filipino indie gay film that carries a solid storyline, bears fantastic acting and shows stunning cinematography. DAYBREAK by Adolfo Alix Jr. proved that "gay-topic'ed" films can go beyond sex and can go deeper.

Known for his picturesque approach to films (watch Donsol, Kadin and Batanes), Adolfo's awesome camera treatment was in DAYBREAK (see the trailer below). A Cinemalaya regular, Adolfo was able to create another film which defies formula. The screenplay is simple, but very powerful. It is not pretentious. Very subtle, but it will hit you hard in the end. Coco Martin is an indie expert. Few actors can do such a role, bold yet respectable.

DAYBREAK is definitely one of the best Filipino gay oriented film I've seen in years.

DAYBREAK happens entirely in one place: a rest house in Taal, Batangas. In a single narrative time, we discover what happens to two men spending one night contemplating whether to break up or continue their relationship. William and JP allow us to know their biggest lies. Memories and dreams, truths and lies, fears and desires, betrayal and honesty, love and hate are all closely entwined in this night. Will the light of the sunrise bring this intimacy to an end?

Adolfo always treats the screen as his canvas, and he is not afraid putting colors over it. I once thought that this approach will not work commercially (after Donsol and Kadin in Cinemalaya). But after Batanes and Daybreak, I could fearlessly say that Adolfo Alix Jr. will be one of the biggest names in Philippines cinema.

2008 ACADEMY AWARD WINNERS

UPSET! No Country for Old Men won over There Will Be Blood in this year's Oscars.

No Country for Old Men - 4 Oscars

There Will Be Blood - 2 Oscars

Juno - 1 Oscar

Atonement - 1 Oscar

Bourne Ultimatum - 3 Oscars (big winner in the technical category)

La Vie En Rose - 2 Oscars

Michael Clayton - 1 Oscar

Sweeny Todd - 1 Oscar

Golden Compass - 1 Oscar

Ratatouille - 1 Oscar

Elizabeth: The Golden Age - 1 Oscar

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Winner: No Country for Old Men - Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin

Best Achievement in Directing
Winner: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Winner: Juno - Diablo Cody

Best Documentary, Features
Winner: Taxi to the Dark Side - Alex Gibney, Eva Orner

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Winner: Freeheld - Cynthia Wade, Vanessa Roth

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Winner: Atonement - Dario Marianelli

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Winner: There Will Be Blood - Robert Elswit

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Winner: Once - Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová(“Falling Slowly” )

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Winner: Fälscher, Die (Austria)

Best Achievement in Editing
Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum - Christopher Rouse

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Winner: Marion Cotillard for Môme, La (La Vie En Rose)

Best Achievement in Sound
Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum - Scott Millan, David Parker, Kirk Francis

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum - Karen M. Baker, Per Hallberg

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Winner: No Country for Old Men - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Winner: Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton

Best Short Film, Animated
Winner: Peter & the Wolf - Suzie Templeton, Hugh Welchman

Best Short Film, Live Action
Winner: Mozart des pickpockets, Le - Philippe Pollet-Villard

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner: Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Winner: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Winner: The Golden Compass - Michael L. Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, Trevor Wood

Best Achievement in Makeup
Winner: Môme, La (La Vie En Rose) - Didier Lavergne, Jan Archibald

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Winner: Ratatouille - Brad Bird

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Winner: Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Alexandra Byrne

THERE WILL BE BLOOD: This Is How An Epic Should Be Made

Cinemanyak Rating: 9.0/10
IMDB Rating: 8.8/10
Tomatometer: 91%
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Rating: 8.3/10
What's your rating? Post a comment below.

Awards and Accomplishments:
Nominated for Best Picture, 2008 Oscar Awards
Nominated for Best Direction, 2008 Oscar Awards
Best Actor (Daniel Day Lewis), 2008 Oscar Awards
Best Cinematography, 2008 Oscar Awards
Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, 2008 Oscar Awards
Nominated for Best Picture, Berlin Film Festival
Nominated for Best Picture, 2008 Golden Globes
Best Actor, 2008 Golden Globes
Best Actor, 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards

2 hours and 45 minutes. Extreme production design. Heavy screenplay. Eye candy cinematography. World class acting -- all the ingredients for an epic are in There Will Be Blood. The great thing with the movie is that they have just put in the right amount of each: not too sweet yet not to sour.

Touching a very timely and sensitive topic -- Oil -- the film brilliantly showed how people fight for black gold in the 19th century. Paul Thomas Anderson intriguingly held information during the film that it keeps you guessing and awake the whole time. "How will this film end?". This is how an epic should be done. Dramatic, yet interesting. Heavy, yet fulfilling at the end. Critics say that this is the best film of the year, or even a decade. I seem to agree, by not abosolutely.

Daniel Day Lewis is amazing! He was able to hold his character from beginning til end, and was able to manage the drastic tansformations of "Daniel Plainview" in the middle -- from the charismatic oil-man to a repentant christian, from a good father to a cold-hearted dad, from a businessman in the right mind to a tycoon murderer.

"Set in the early 20th century, the film follows the rise to power of Daniel Plainview -- a charismatic and ruthless oil prospector, driven to succeed by his intense hatred of others and psychological need to see any and all competitors fail. When he learns of oil-rich land in California that can be bought cheaply, he moves his operation there and begins manipulating and exploiting the local landowners into selling him their property. Using his young adopted son H.W. to project the image of a caring family man, Plainview gains the cooperation of almost all the locals with lofty promises to build schools and cultivate the land to make their community flourish. Over time, Plainview's gradual accumulation of wealth and power causes his true self to surface, and he begins to slowly alienate himself from everyone in his life." (written by Denny Gibbons)

An Oscar favourite, There Will Be Blood got the most nominations this year.

JUNO: MY BEST PICTURE PICK

Cinemanyak Rating: 9.0/10
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
Tomatometer: 93%
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Rating: 8.0/10
What's your rating? Post a comment below.

Awards and Accomplishments:
Nominated for Best Picture, 2008 Oscar Awards
Nominated for Best Direction, 2008 Oscar Awards
Nominated for Best Actress, 2008 Oscar Awards
Best Original Screenplay, 2008 Oscar Awards
Nominated for Best Picture, 2008 Golden Globes
Nominated for Best Actress, 2008 Golden Globes
Nominated for Best Original Screenplay, 2008 Golden Globes
Best Actress, 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards

JUNO started with a chair...and from there, everything was just brilliant.

Juno MacGuff (played Ellen Page), finds herself pregnant, knocked up by her best friend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera) on their first attempt at sex. Juno, with the help of her best friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), takes it upon herself to find some adoptive parents. Courtesy of the local Penny Saver, she soon finds childless couple Mark and Vanessa (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner).

The power of this teenage pregnancy feature is just overwhelming. The story is very clever. The screenplay is not pretentious. The emotions were real. It definitely placed a spin on how pregnancy is presented in movies. Aside from the well-awarded screenplay. Ellen Page's acting kept us glued to the movie. It's like she's telling you "Watch what will happen to me". And true indeed, she held our hands as we go through the flat but very colorful life of a confused pregnant teenager. She would definitely be a force to face in tomorrow's Oscars.

The director, Jason Reitman, knows how to treat black comedy with respect. He was able to make people laugh in the theater without destroying the somber mood of the whole film. He deserves his Oscar nomination, yet he's too weak to compete with the epic experts in the race.

But all-in-all, JUNO has the elements of what a great movie should have. With that, I wouldn't be surprised if I see Jason with an Oscar tomorrow for Best Picture.

BANGKOK LOVE STORY: Director and Screenwriter Wasted a Good Story

Cinemanyak Rating: 5.0/10

IMDB Rating: Not Available

Tomatometer: Not Available

Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Rating: Not Available

What's your rating? Post a comment below.

BANGKOK LOVE STORY is a good film, that is if you isolate cinematography and the homoerotic story line from the distracting side stories, the gloominess of the plot and the unbearable (bad) acting. And the rain, oh my gosh, it keeps on falling every time the story reaches its peak. Do all sad stories happen underneath the rain?

Let me start with the good things:

One, cinematography is stunningly beautiful! The whole of Bangkok turned dark as Gotham City. It's like watching a gangster film from New York, which perfectly fits to the plot. The director used unconventional angles and shot some speed in high speed, making the picture looks slow on screen. Imagine Wong Kar Wai and Spike Lee combined.

Two, the homoerotic plot is fantastic. I could say it is better than Brokeback Mountain. The tension is there. It is unpredictable. And it is "acceptable" (usually, a homoerotic film crosses the boundary of porn. Bangkok Love Story was able to manage it well).

The story is about a hitman hired to kill a cop. When they met, the hitman kept him in a hidden roofdeck house. As the movie goes along, they suddenly felt that they were falling for each other. They denied that were gay, primarily because of their profession, but in then end they were not able to fight it and just got together. Looks simple but it is not.

The writer overloaded the story with so much twists and side characters that it destroyed the perfect homoerotic plot I've seen. Add the following to the story above: AIDS, Tubercolosis, Drus Lords, an overacting wife (of the cop; yes he's married!), and serendipitous events which makes the film more depressing. To sad! The writer just missed a gem here.

Bangkok Love Story is still screening in all cineplexes around Bangkok.

SHINDO: Music & Real Friendship Captured in a Good Film

Cinemanyak Rating: 7.0/10
IMDB Rating: Not Available
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Rating: Not Available
Tomatometer: Not Available
What is your rating? Post a comment below.

I was able to watch SHINDO at the Siam Cineplex Art House in Bangkok. Not knowing what to expect, I did enter the large theatre together with 6 other Chulalungkorn University students (the market of the Art House as the campus is just behind Siam).

Shindo is a story about 2 piano prodigies: a young girl (Uta) at her early teens, and an adult guy (Oto) at his early 20's. Uta already earned a name in playing the piano since she was a child. Her mother is very persistent in asking her to continue playing, but she wants to stop to live a normal life outside the stage spotlight. Oto is exactly the opposite, not having the same talent as the young girl, he puts all of his energy in practicing pieces just to get into a music school.

Their friendship appeared to be beneficial for both of them. Uta inspired Oto to reach for his dream as a musician. Oto inspired Uta to look for her purpose in life (eventually, she found out that playing music is her purpose...how sad).

The thing I love with this film is its simplicity: the story, the directing, the music, the cinematography. No drama, very pure. This makes Shindo very believable. You may not be able to relate to piano playing, but its rawness of its emotions will certainly move you.

The director may have the perfect love story to exploit, but he rather made Uta and Oto friends from beginning until the end. This is the best platonic boy-girl relationship I've seen in screen so far.

Cinemanyak Visits Art Houses in South East Asia

A lot are asking where I view the films I feature in the site. I do 3 things: catch the latest film festival, buy dvds and watch at home, and go to the nearest art house in town.

During my recent trip around South East Asia, I visited some of the best are houses in the region. I hope we could have more of these in Manila.

SCREENING ROOM in Singapore

Restaurant, bar, studio and a film theatre in one. This high end art house offers themed dinner which suits aptly to the film to be screened (I was able to attend a wine and cheese party prior their "Sideways" screening).

HOUSE in Bangkok
A typical cineplex with modern interiors, and art films on the screen. A bit hard to find though; no connection to the BTS or MRT.

SIAM MULTIPLEX in Bangkok

Old cinemas refurbished into its old grandeur, fit to the art films they flash to their screen. It's like watching a movie in old Escolta and Avenida, but in digital sound.

DREAM THEATER, Manila

The official art house of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. This small viewing room screens award winning film (both local and international) for free!

Other Art Houses:

- Instituto Cervantes, Manila (screens free Spanish films every Saturday, 6PM)

- Indiesine, Robinon's Galleria Manila (Filipino Indie all year long. Mostly not subtitled)

- Cinekatipunan, Magnet Cafe Katipunan Manila (Filipino Indie, normally school works. Screenings start at 5PM)

Here are some useful links:

http://www.screeningroom.com.sg/

http://www.houserama.com/

http://www.magnet.com.ph/

http://manila.cervantes.es/

DONSOL: Philippines' entry to next year's Oscars

Aldolfo Alix's entry to the 2006 Cinemalaya Indie Film Festival was chosen to represent the Philippines in the next Oscar Awards. DONSOL got the awards for best cinematograpy and best actress (Angel Aquino) in the CCP-housed festival.

This is another success of Philipine Indie.

Last year, another indie film was chosen to represent the Philippines in the Oscars (Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros).

Pelikula: 6th Spanish Film Festival @ Greenbelt

The 2007 SPANISH FILM FESTIVAL is near! Greenbelt 3 Cinemas in Manila will house this year's "cinema fiesta".

Festival schedule below. Click the film title for synopsis, reviews and film details.

2 Tue

4:30 Invisibles
7:00 Tu vida en 65’
9:30 Utopía

3 Wed
4:30 Iluminados por el fuego
7:00 Azul oscuro casi negro
9:30 La vida secreta de las palabras

4 Thu
4:30 7 vírgenes
7:00 La educación de las hadas
9:30 Semen, una hª de amor

5 Fri
4:30 Viva Cuba
7:00 El aura
9:30 El próximo Oriente
12:00 Habana Blues

6 Sat
2:00 El sueño de una noche de San Juan
4:30 Tu vida en 65’
7:00 Ciudad en celo
9:30 Azul oscuro casi negro
12:00 Otros días vendrán

7 Sun
2:00 De profundis
4:30 Derecho de familia
7:00 El aura
9:30 Semen, una hª de amor

8 Mon
4:30 La noche de los girasoles
7:00 Los últimos de Filipinas
9:30 Ciudad en celo

9 Tue

4:30 Viva Cuba
7:00 Habana Blues
9:30 Salvador

10 Wed
4:30 La educación de las hadas
7:00 Iluminados por el fuego
9:30 El próximo Oriente

11 Thu
4:30 7 vírgenes
7:00 Derecho de familia
9:30 Otros días vendrán

12 Fri
4:30 Ciudad en celo
7:00 Viva Cuba
9:30 La noche de los girasoles
12:00 Azul oscuro casi negro

13 Sat
2:00 De profundis
4:30 El aura
7:00 El próximo Oriente
9:30 La vida secreta de las palabras
12:00 Tu vida en 65’

14 Sun
2:00 Derecho de familia
5:00 No sos vos, soy yo
7:00 Audience Choice
9:30 Salvador

Cinemalaya @ Indiesine

For those who missed the screenings at the CCP, Cinemalaya films are currently running at Indiesine (Robinson's Galleria).

In the line up are: TRIBU (Best Picture, Best Actor), ENDO (Jury Prize, Best Actress), GULONG, LIGAW LIHAM, SINUNGALING NA BUWAN (disqualified during the festival) and TUKSO (Best Screenplay)

Lalake Sa Parola: Tell me what went wrong?

Cinemanyak Rating: 1.0/10
IMDB Rating: Not Available
Rotten Tomatoes Critics' Rating: Not Available

This is a disappointing film. Very disappointing.

Unconventional story telling which confused us in the start, bad acting until the end, pixelized cinematography, an ending with unclear character-conflict resolution...and a lot of homoerotic scenes badly done.

Don't watch this film. Period.

But in case you want to, it is still running in Indiesine, Robinson's Galleria

First Silent Film Festival in Manila

The 1st International Silent Film Festival is currently running at the Greenbelt 3 Cinemas. This is a unique film series which combines classic black and white silent films with local live music.

September 4 – The Adventures of Prince Achmed/Die Abenteur des Prinzen Achmed (Germany), music by Drip

September 10 – The Sixth Sense/El Sexto Sentido (Spain), music by Wahijuara

September 13 – A Monster Serpent/Orochi (Japan), music by Makiling Ensemble

All screenings start at 8PM.

The festival is sponsored by the Goethe-Institut, Instituto Cervantes and the Japan Foundation, in cooperation with Ayala Malls Cinemas, Greenbelt and YoCard.

Lav Diaz's "Death in the Land of the Encantos" won in Venice

Lav Diaz's 9-hour movie DEATH IN THE LAND OF THE ENCANTOS won the Golden Lion Honarable Mention Award in the recently concluded Venice International Film Festival.

"Long live Philippine Cinema!" Diaz said in this acceptance speech. "In spite of all the madness in this world, it's still a nice place to live in. We still have a cinema. We have the Venice Film Festival."

"Encantos" tells the story of a poet who returned to his hometown in Bicol after the destruction and aftermath of supertyphoon Reming.

Ang Lee's x-rated, sexually explicit film LUST, CAUTION won the top prize, just 2 years after he got the same award for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN.

BRAD PIT won best actor.

October is Cinemanyak Month: Spanish Film Festival and Cine Europa Back-to-Back

Cineastes will go crazy this October! Two of the longest running international film festivals in Manila will happen back-to-back this October.

Pelikula: Instituto's 6th Spanish Film Festival

Pelikula will open on the 1st of Oct with the invitational screening of UNIVERSO CHOMON. Pelikula is now the biggest showing of Spanish cinema in South East Asia.

Greenbelt 3 will house the festival until Oct 14.


Cine Europa 2007

The annual film festival of the European Union, Cine Europa shows the best cinema of the region. The festival will show Oscars 2007 Best Foreign Film THE LIVES OF OTHERS from Gernamy.

The Shangrila Plaza will house the festival from October 18 to 28.
Cebu will have their run from from October 5 to 7.
Davao will have theirs from October 12 to 14.

Paris Je T'aime: 18 Films in 2 Hours

Cinemanyak Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes Critic's Rating: 7.0/10
Critics' Tomatometer: 84% (Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes)
What's your rating? Post a comment below.

Awards and Accomplishments:
Official Selection, 2006 Cannes Film Festival
Official Selection, 2006 Toronto Film Festival
In Exhibition, 2007 Cinemanila

18 stories. 18 acclaimed directors.
1 film.
1 theme... love in Paris.

I watched the film after seeing some directors involved in this ambitious project: Gus Van Sant and Christopher Doyle to mention a few. Seldom do you see acclaimed directors and Cannes winners together.

Given 5 minutes each. The directors gave their own interpretation of "love in Paris". Some were experimental, some were conventional. There were films about vampire couples, homosexuals, a Moslem and a Christian, 2 clowns, a divorced couple, a blind man and an actress, Asians trying to be French, and more. Very diverse. Truly interesting.

I was lukewarm to the idea at first. They may be acclaimed directors and known film makers, but how can they manage a "chopseuy" of stories? I was thinking then that things will be left hanging and unresolved at the end. But to my surprise, it didn't feel that way.

Yes, some things were left hanging...but the film gave a different feeling in the end: it made us miss all the characters terribly! Thanks to the perfect ending where they showed everyone in a montage and in 18 split frames, accompanied by a lovely song entitled "We're All In The Dance".

It's a good film. I would recommend it. (By the way, I watched it twice. In Cinemanila and during my flight from Manila to Singapore).

Below is the trailer. I'm also posting the ending of the film which made most of the people in the theater cry (it's a spoiler, so don't play the second video if you are planning to watch Paris Je T'aime) .

CINEMANYAK: Now in Rotten Tomatoes

CINEMANYAK is now a part of the Rotten Tomatoes vine of critics. Cinemanyak reviews will now be linked to one of the biggest film-info sites in the web.

Send in your views and reviews, and join Cinemanyak in throwing those "fresh" or "rotten" tomatoes.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

CINEMANYAK BREAKING NEWS: Pisay, Tirador and Death in the Land of the Encantos entered Toronto Int'l Film Festival

3 Filipino films got in Toronto Film Festival:

- Pisay the Movie (Auraeus Solito, 2007 Cinemalaya Best Director)

- Tirador (Brillante Mendoza)
- Death in the Land of the Encantos (Lav Diaz's 8 hour film).

Toronto is considered as one of the top film festivals in the world, next to Cannes and Berlin.

CINEMANYAK BREAKING NEWS: Kubrador won the Critic's Prize in this year's Brisbane Int'l Film Festival

Good news for the Philippines. 2006 Cinemanila Best Picture KUBRADOR won the Critic's Prize in the recently concluded Brisbane International Film Festival. This is the 10th best film recognition for the Jeffrey Jeturian masterpiece.

Kubrador is a film about a "jueteng" (illegal number game) collector. As she goes around the tight streets of Manila, she meets the bettors who desperately put all their hopes into jueteng, wishing that it will bring them out of poverty. Every bettor has a story...and the collector, played by Gina Pareno, is a witness to all of these. After earning money through their hopelessness, she realizes in the end that she herself was hopeless.

A 6.9/10 in IMDB. Cinemanyak thinks it should be 7.5/10.

Volver: Pedro Almodovar's Newest Masterpiece

Cinemanyak Rating: 8.0/10
IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes Critic's Rating: 7.7/10
Critic's Tomatometer: 91% (Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes)
What's your Rating? Post a comment below.

Awards & Achievements:
Winner - Best Screenplay, Cannes Film Festival
Winner - Best Actress, Penelope Cruz, Cannes Film Festival
In Competition - Cannes Film Festival
Nominated - Best Actress, Penelope Cruz, Oscars
Winner - Best Director, European Film Awards
Winner - Best Actress, Penelope Cruz, European Film Awards
Nominated - Best Picture, European Film Awards
Nominated - Best Foreign Film, Golden Globes
Nominated - Best Actress, Golden Globes
Winner - Best Film, Goya Awards
Winner - Best Director, Goya Awards
Winner - Best Actress, Goya Awards


Pedro did it again! A wonderfully crafted opus which brings you to the emotional highs and lows of his character. I was however disappointed after watching VOLVER. Knowing it won best screenplay in Cannes (it also won 38 other awards and got 47 nominations from different award giving bodies around the world), I was expecting to see something bigger and better than Hable Con Ella (Talk To Her).

I did miss in Volver the twists, turns and suspense Pedro is known for. The plot is unconventional, yet a bit predictable. Cinematography is fantastic, especially in the opening scene at the cemetery. One thing amazing though is how Pedro exposed each character in separate segments of the film...then tied them up perfectly towards the end.

Commendable acting from Penelope Cruz! She really stunned me.

Don't get me wrong, it is a good movie....it's just over rated for me.