Volver

Almodóvar’s latest film is another feast of color and homage (this time to Frank Capra and Mildred Pierce) and also his first set in the backwater province of La Mancha, where the filmmaker grew up. Penélope Cruz stars as a woman who is—guess what?—pushed to the edge of insanity by her husband’s murder. Turns out the old bastard was trying to rape their daughter, who killed him in self-defense. Naturally, Cruz decides to bury the guy in a freezer and take the blame herself. Add to these female troubles the return of Cruz’s long-dead mother, a ghost who seeks forgiveness from her daughters. Oddly, critics here and in Britain have lashed out at this film (along with the recent Viva Pedro! retrospective), wondering why Pedro’s films are essentially manless, and, in the words of one detractor, do little more than rehash old themes and “flatter a [woman’s] self-esteem.” Like the best auteurs, Almodóvar will take his knocks … and keep on creating exactly what he wants.