2/28/2003 » Film

I finally saw ‘Hable Con Ella’ / ‘Talk to Her’ last night... Very enjoyable. It was slower-paced than I’d expected, and much funnier. I’d expected my first Almodovar flick to be more manic, more like the reviews of ‘Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down’. The whole, um, gonad diving bit was pretty funny. Glad my female friend wasn’t uptight ;)

Loved the ‘Cucurrucucu Paloma’ song, the color palette, the rich orange of firelight and the blue of the house. And the intensity of Marco, and his tears. The matadora visuals were beautiful, and I loved how he wrapped around and finally revealed the beginning of the conversation before the goring. Absolutely loved the snake scene, Marco crying afterwards, Lydia’s refusal to return to her house.

I was really put off by the Benigno character, for all the salvation the director offered him, for all the obsessive care he showed. Benigno was setting off gaydar big-time. My friend and I were shocked when he didn't turn out to be bi.

The bright-eyed Alicia reminds me of a woman I used to work with, a woman who got most of her charm from her pixieish bob and physique and, with her hair drawn back, was unfortunately rendered unpigmented.

That thick, monotonic, authoritative Spanish accent I love, but it’s as different from the clearly enunciated, singsong Latin American Spanish as Japanese is to Mandarin. I loved the rhythmically swaying hips in line in the dance at the end.

I’ll check out other Almodoflicks. An interesting filmmaker, restraint in his visuals. This film was surprisingly restrained in its emotions as well, I’ve heard he’s mellowing with age. Saw ‘Vanilla Sky,’ the remake of ‘Abre Los Ojos,’ it was interesting, but mainly for Penélope’s eyes.