Volver (2006)

	Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar	COUNTRY Spain GENRE Drama/Comedy NORWEGIAN TITLE Å vende tilbake RUNNING TIME 121 minutes
	Produced by: Esther García
	Written by: Pedro Almodóvar

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Raimunda	Penélope Cruz	½
Irene	Carmen Maura	½
Sole	Lola Dueñas
Agustina	Blanca Portillo	½
Paula	Yohana Cobo
Tia Paula	Chus Lampreave
Paco	Antonio de la Torre

Review

Almodóvar and his women. With Volver he recruits another ensemble female cast, continues to depict fairly campy melodrama, and manages largely to convey it all with quality and appeal. His small-town, dysfunctional family of women is written in the vein of Federico García Lorca's play La Casa de Bernarda Alba. Even the projection is similarly theatrical, though that would disregard Almodóvar's incurable skill for visual composition. The colours in Volver are so magnetic that even a 25-year-old Ford Granada looks sexy. Between lighter, almost pulp, story-twists (certainly by design), Volver includes some amazing, dramatically explosive scenes – most of which contain Penélope Cruz in what is one of her best roles to date. It's also a relief to hear her speak Spanish again. There's also a first-rate performance from Almodóvar's old favourite Carmen Maura, rounding out a film that never comes close to the best films in the Spanish auteur's catalogue, but nevertheless has enough quality to deserve his much-acclaimed seal.