Reviews & Ratings for
Broken Embraces More at IMDbPro »Los abrazos rotos (original title)

Page 1 of 9:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

75 out of 97 people found the following review useful:
Spain's finest export strikes again, 20 March 2009

Author: mc_190183 from United Kingdom

Pedro's back and Madrid has gone wild. With the release of his 17th feature film, "Los Abrazos Rotos" (Broken Embraces) Almodovár tells the tale of a blind film director (Lluis Omar) and how he came to lose not only his sight, but also the love of his life (Penelope Cruz). The film is by no means a departure from the Spaniard's typical traits, with the picture employing the usual Almodóvar fodder – love, lies, tears, melodrama, comedy - to great effect. The film journeys between the past and the present, and interweaves diverse stories and viewpoints, to construct a fascinating drama full of twists and turns. The acting is terrific and there are many 'in-jokes' involving subtle references to previous Almodóvar films, with the picture rounded off nicely by a soundtrack produced by the ever-brilliant Alberto Iglesias (featuring original music alongside tracks by Uffie, Cat Power and Can).

My only gripe would be the film's length, clocking up over 2 hours – a factor which is noticeable given that the film's storyline does seem to run out of steam after the 90-minute mark. But that minor complaint should not detract from the fact that Almodóvar has demonstrated himself to be one of the most individual and consistent film-makers in modern cinema. It must be said that 'Los Abrazos Rotos' is not the tour-de-force that some fans may have hoped for and falls short of eclipsing what in my opinion was his career high – Hable Con Ella (Talk to Her). Nevertheless, Almodóvar delivers a very engaging film which is sure to become another hit, and will no doubt earn more accolades for the man who can deservedly call himself Spain's most successful film-maker of all time.

59 out of 95 people found the following review useful:
Wonderful film, 18 March 2009

Author: ianko_lopez from Spain

A wonderful film. One of Almodovar's finest, and probably the most accomplished work by Penelope Cruz, whose subtle performance as Lena is a real achievement. I was lucky enough to enjoy the film in a press preview, and simply adored it. The script is extremely complex, though this fact does not result in making the story difficult to follow. All characters are perfectly defined and handled by Almodóvar, in his rich, flamboyant style. I liked this film even more than Almodovar's previous "Volver". I found this more powerful, both visually and emotionally. The music score by Alberto Iglesias is simply alluring. Cinematography by Mexican Rodrigo Prieto is also very good. But the beauty of the film is basically due to the enormous talent of Señor Almodóvar. Thanks, Pedro!

19 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Almodovar's embrace with cinema, 21 November 2009

Author: Max_cinefilo89 from Italy

There's never been any doubt about Pedro Almodovar's unquestioned, unstoppable love for all things cinema, a fact that pops up frequently in his body of work, most notably the autobiographical Bad Education. Like that intrigue-heavy melodrama, Broken Embraces was shown in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, with many critics and bookmakers speculating about the director finally winning the Palme d'Or after many unsuccessful attempts (the closest he came, apparently, was with the stunning Volver). Of course, the movie received zero awards (with the top prize going to Michael Haneke, another "perennial loser" so to speak) and left many people who saw it indifferent. The reason? Almodovar keeps making the exact same films year after year.

The "hero" of Broken Embraces is a Spanish screenwriter (Lluis Homar, who played the older priest in Bad Education) who calls himself Harry Caine (a mixture of fictional character Harry Palmer and the actor playing him, Michael Caine, or possibly a play on how Italians and Spaniards phonetically pronounce the English word "hurricane"). He's blind, and has gone off on a soul-searching journey to deal with a tragedy that occurred 14 years earlier. As the mystery surrounding his past unravels, flashbacks are used to depict a "happier" time, when he could still see, was known as Mateo Blanco and tried to make his last film, on the set of which he met and fell in love with actress Lena (Penélope Cruz), who unfortunately was involved with another, more powerful man...

It's easy to see why people choose to dislike the film: they're right, there's nothing really original in the screenplay (the "solution" to the mystery is easy to guess), in fact Almodovar seems to be going on autopilot, hitting the melodrama button without bothering to make sure he's doing it the right way. But that doesn't mean he never does a good job: visually, Broken Embraces is as enchanting as Volver, and if there's one thing the director hardly ever gets wrong, it's casting: Penélope Cruz is beautiful and convincingly vulnerable at the same time, Homar elicits enough sympathy as Mateo/Harry, and the "villain" of the piece (José Luis Gomez) is acceptably solid.

As for the self-referential streak in Almodovar's production (there's at least one in-joke in every film), he really hits gold this time, with fake footage of Mateo's lost film coming off as a clever pastiche of earlier hit Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which starred his other muse Carmen Maura. That scene alone justifies watching the film at least once. Broken Embraces may not be vintage Almodovar, but he's worth checking out even when he's "slacking".

29 out of 46 people found the following review useful:
A far cry from its typical genre, Los Abrazos Rotos is a bridge of destiny between a Love Triangle and a Dual Family Disaster, 6 October 2009

Author: Cihan Sean Victorydawn Vercan (CihanVercan) from Ottawa, Canada

Harry Caine is a blind scenarist and an outdated film director, whose life is broken down due to a traffic accident 14 years ago in 1994. While he was directing his movie "Girls and Suitcases" he was having an affair with his leading actress Magdalena(Lena in short) playing by Penélope Cruz. New make-ups and new hair designs every other scene, Cruz stands out brightly at all the scenes that she's involved. She came to the spot at the 7th minute of the theatrical cut, left 15 minutes earlier than everybody else in the movie.

This excellent work of storytelling in such a melodramatic plot worths to be vigorously applauded. It never becomes a melodrama even within in the crying scenes of Cruz nor the scenes of Mateo Blanco reminiscing Lena. The psychological trauma constituents enrich the focus of the movie right in position. Pedro Almodovar is known for using a script supervisor at his film set; and this surely brings the dialogues to perfection. Beefing up the storyboard via the scene connections, the time gap between 1994 and 2008 is used very wisely. You can still find a couple movie mistakes in anachronisms or factual errors -like mixing GBH and MDMA liquid drugs one after another, which will cause to golden hit and kills you, instead of giving you a girlishly fainting- yet the plot has no serious flaw as far as I realize.

Mainly together with 4 supporting actors and actresses, the film drew 6 different schemes for each character. Among all, Rubén Ochandiano played the toughest role as Ernesto Martel Junior decoding a gay person's characteristic development in a 14 years of period.

A traffic accident in which the lovers involving changed the lives of 6 people. This was the main idea here, reminding the Crash and David Lynch's Mulholland Drive with this concept and it deserves to be recognized with awards like them. Not advised to watch for a family movie due to mature subject matters, female nudity, drug usage, scenes of violence and mild language.

13 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
The Last Kiss, 10 April 2010

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In 1992, in Madrid, the secretary and escort girl Lena (Penélope Cruz) becomes the mistress of the powerful entrepreneur Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez) that is her boss and takes care of her terminal father. In the present days, the blind screenwriter Mateo Blanco (Lluís Homar) known by his code name Harry Caine meets a beautiful blonde (Kira Miró) on the street that offers to read the newspaper for him and tells that Ernesto Matel has died. Then his agent Judit García (Blanca Portillo) and her son Diego (Tamar Novas) arrive and Harry promises to end the screenplay that he is writing until the end of the day. Judit leaves the apartment and Harry is visited by a man code named X-Ray (Rubén Ochandiano) that introduces himself as a filmmaker and asks Harry to write the screenplay of his documentary about his intolerant father. Harry recognizes him, refuses the request, sends him away and recalls the year of 1994, when he was casting for his film "Chicas Y Maletas" and met Lena. Sooner they fall in love for each other and Ernesto Martel, who was the producer, sends his homosexual son to prepare the behind scene and making off of the movie. With the support of a reader of lips, the jealous and obsessive Martel daily falls each step of Lena with tragic consequences for the couple of lovers.

"Los Abrazos Partidos" is another magnificent film of the talented Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who is among my favorite contemporary directors. The plot has a complex, but perfect screenplay with use of flashbacks with a marvelous development of the characters. Lluís Homar performs the lead character Mateo Blanco a.k.a. Harry Caine (a pun with hurricane) that uses two alternate names of Pedro Almodóvar and has a great performance. His erotic scene with the unknown and extremely gorgeous Kira Miró is astonishing. Penélope Cruz is stunning and has another top-notch performance directed by Almodóvar. The open conclusion is ironic after the remark of Mateo Blanco about "Chicas Y Maletas" and I liked it. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Abraços Partidos" ("Broken Hugs")

13 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Another great Almodovar film., 30 March 2010

Author: james higgins (jameshiggins923@gmail.com) from Kingsport, TN

This is a very complex thriller, but also very rewarding. This is director Pedro Almodovar's film with the broadest spectrum. There are numerous plot's and subplots and it all seems a bit confusing, but once again, Almodovar brilliantly pulls it all together by the films end. Penelope Cruz is radiantly beautiful and gives her usual excellent performance. Lluis Homar, Blanca Portillo and Jose Luis Gomez give superb performances. Almodovar is so amazingly visual, and there are several unforgettable images in Broken Embraces. The characters develop so incredibly well and the blending of all the stories is so striking to watch. Superbly done.

13 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Rather Shallow and Contrived, 30 December 2009

Author: kasserine from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I've never been a huge fan of Almodovar, but, generally, I've always found something to enjoy in his films. Unfortunately, I had more trouble finding something to enjoy in Broken Embraces then I would normally think I would.

I find the biggest failure in Broken Embraces to be the characters and the lack of depth they display. The film is essentially a love story, one that is tragic, and one that wants to involve the viewer in their stories. I found this problematic from the beginning.

In the opening scene, our 'hero' the director/screenwriter, Mateo, is having sex with a very attractive young woman whom he just met. His agent comes in as the woman bashfully leaves.

In the opening scene, our 'hero' the director/screenwriter, Mateo, is having sex with a very attractive young woman whom he just met. His agent comes in, and rolls her eyes, as the woman bashfully leaves. Mateo babbles something about needing to enjoy life as the only thing he has left. Having been blinded in a tragic car accident that also killed his 'true' love Lena, played by Penelope Cruz, the viewer might buy into to this notion except the rest of the film really never illustrates why Lena was the love of his life or any depth to his character or any other.

Cruz plays Lena the mistress to an industrialist named Ernesto Martel. From the outset, their union is rather a pathetic one, as Martel clutches jealousy to Lena, and Lena avoids uncertainty of being on her own by staying with the much older Martel. To skip ahead, Martel finances a film for Mateo so he can keep tabs on the star of the film, Lena. Naturally, without any back story, Lena and Mateo fall in love. And, in Almodovar's world it really is that simple. Mateo, in the opening scene, has sex with a sexy young woman, now Mateo falls in love with Lena, later it's revealed he had a son with his agent after their love affair. Her son responds to this information with a laugh and an, "Oh, well." Again, no depth, no understanding for any of these characters, it all just happens. From the beginning of the film to the end, I got no depth of emotion from Mateo. He is flat, and doesn't act much different from one scene to the next.

The one scene I did enjoy was when film producer, Martel, is watching video footage his son recorded under the guise of doing a documentary of Mateo. There are nice a moment of Martel watching obsessively as a lip reading confirms his worst fears. Later, Lena confronts Martel as he's watching the footage and speaks her part out loud matching the video footage of her lips as she talks. Some quite brilliant moments. Rather contrived, but still really fascinating.

Unfortunately, for me, the rest of the film left me rather bored. I couldn't care about these characters or their situations, so no amount of cleverness on Almodovar's part can make up for this lack of depth. I think if you're a fan of his work you'll enjoy this movie, but if you're like me, in between, then you'll find it lacking.

20 out of 32 people found the following review useful:
The Intellectual's "Indy and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", 18 November 2009

Author: Radu_A

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

In short, this movie is a declaration of artistic bankruptcy.

Almodovar is easily the most important European film maker of the 80s and 90s. No other living director has shaped the style and contents of present-day European cinema more than him. It is therefore not easy to say that his latest effort is not just another disappointment after two lackluster films, but rather a complete and total disaster confirming that he has run out of ideas, out of humour and, worst of all, empathy for the characters he creates.

That is not due to the complexity of the story. All Almodovar films are almost impossible to summarize. This time, in fact, it's rather easy if you are familiar with his earlier work. "Broken Embraces" is a remake of "Law of Desire", only this time the director is straight and the jealous jilted lover is a millionaire.

For those of you not familiar with that film, I'm doing a summary. If you don't want to know too much, please skip this paragraph. A blind man, who used to be a famous movie director, seduces a sexy buxom woman reading a paper to him after a chance street encounter (yes, really, that's how it starts). Just then he gets a visit by his agent and best friend. He mentions to her that he has learned from the paper that a certain millionaire has died, which takes the story 14 years back. He can still see and is about to direct his next film. He stars the inexperienced mistress of the said millionaire as the lead, as he is instantly smitten with her. The millionaire discovers their affair via silent videos made by his gay son, which he has lip-synched by an interpreter (a few great scenes: Cecilia Roth). After violent quarrels, the mistress escapes with the director to a seaside resort where he learns that the millionaire, who produced the film, had it released in the worst possible edit, destroying the director's reputation. The couple decides to return, but has an accident in which the director turns blind and the would-be actress dies. Back in the present, he learns that his agent has preserved the film's negatives and starts to reconstruct it.

As in "Bad Education", there are various sub plots to beef up this rather thin story, and as in "Bad Education", the result is more confusing than satisfactory. For instance, the agent's son, who works as a DJ, has an accidental drug overdose - which is completely unnecessary for the plot, and also interpreted rather badly.

Mostly, however, the actors are not to blame, but the way their characters are written. Blanca Portilla as the agent has so many skeletons in her closet that not even a brilliant performance can save the character from ridicule. Lluis Homar is an old man's dream of a protagonist, living in an artificial world where an English alias and a few sweet words can seduce any super model. And Penelope Cruz is the embodiment of this old man's sexual fantasy. Her character is completely lifeless. It remains thoroughly incomprehensible why she would go from one old man, who at least helped her family, to a slightly less old man, who isn't charming enough to convince as either a romantic hero or a passion fuse.

But all these shortcomings wouldn't make this film so awful. However, Almodovar does the worst possible thing of a director (or any type of storyteller) running out of ideas: he quotes himself, something he has increasingly done, and to very little benefit. The film-within-the-film, which "Broken Embraces" uses as a plot-driving device, is actually "Women at the verge of a nervous breakdown" (1988), only this time it is called "Chicks and Suitcases". This rather unimaginative title may give you a hint how this beloved classic is treated here: while the dialog making up the final ten minutes of "Broken Embraces" is a frantic, over-the-top exchange of screwball one-liners in the original film, here it is a stern, colorless, pesky business encounter.

In conclusion, this is the D.O.A. brainchild of an exhausted creator of past marvels, pretty much as awful and disappointing as the last Indiana Jones feature. Maybe not so many people would agree with that, because Almodovar used to be such a genius. I'd rather offer my respect to his accomplishments by humbly asking the reader to watch "All about my mother", or "Tie me up", or "High Heels", or "Matador", all of which bear witness to Almodovar's unique and unmatched talent. A few more film like this, and his legacy may very well be destroyed for good.

14 out of 21 people found the following review useful:
boring, 1 January 2010

Author: pablufu from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Almodovar has this habit to recycle stories and characters that for some is regarded as his style. Every now and again you'll see 3 movies of his and have the impression two of them were rehearsals, drafts of the better piece. Compare Live flesh, Everything about my mother, and Broken embraces and you'll get my point. But Broken embraces came too late. The better piece was Everything about my mother. If I'm wrong, this movie will win an Oscar. I do acknowledge Penelope's performance. Mature, meticulous, touching. The cast in general was a good one, although if you follow Spanish television you'll realize some actors were also recycling their own stereotyped characters from TV shows. So, my overall impression is that Almodovar overused recycled material and that had me, and many around me, yawning a lot. Oh, and the rotten cherry on the pie: Mateo was Diego's father!!! Yawn again.

15 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Not much to embrace, 9 November 2009

Author: C-Younkin from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

What's with Spanish filmmakers and their need to jump backwards and forwards in time, only to create tragic stories that don't amount to a whole lot in the end? After "The Burning Plain", I was hoping that Pedro Almodovar's new film "Broken Embraces" would give us a little more to chew on. I was wrong.

We're first introduced to a blind screenwriter living in Madrid in 2008 named Mateo who goes under the pseudonym Harry Caine (Lluis Homar). He is shocked to hear of the death of Ernesto Martel. The movie then goes back to 1992 when Martel (Jose Luis Gomez) is a business man with a hot little secretary named Lena (Penelope Cruz). Lena's father is dying of cancer and Martel offers to help the family pay for his treatment. Only this comes with a cost for Lena, who becomes his trophy-girlfriend. Back in 2008, Harry is contacted by a young filmmaker named Ray X (Ruben Ochandiano), who wants Harry to help him tell a story about a gay son who gets back at his homophobic father. Harry denies Ray's offer and Ray angrily leaves, leading us to believe a thriller is about to break out where Ray is a psycho-stalker.

There are a few plot twists, flashbacks to 1992 where Harry (still with vision) is directing a film with Lena as his star, and a love triangle that turns violent but "Embraces" feels like Almodovar is going through a lot of trouble for what amounts to very little. The constant time shifts, too many characters figuring into the plot (Mateo's manager and her son among them), the thriller elements that never materialize into anything exciting, the tragic love story, and secrets (most of which predictable) finally revealed are all supposed to figure into why Harry eventually made just a sub-par film. Who cares? There are two highlights here. One is Penelope Cruz, who can play sexy better than anybody and the animal-like passion between her and Homar is undeniably felt. The movie springs to life whenever they're together, especially during a photo-shoot where she portrays Mateo's Marilyn Monroe. The movie is also gorgeously shot by cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto.

Page 1 of 9:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Add another review

Related Links