2006-02-15T08:42:00.000-08:00

Habla Con Ella- Pedro Almadovar

This is the second movie I have seen by this director. I have seen parts of Bad Education too, and it is just enough to begin to see certain characteristics in all of Almadovar's projects. Admittingly, I would and had not of noticed such things on my own. With movies and especially Hollywood, we tend to view each as independent of directors and outside influences when in fact, many forces are at work in a single project. Except maybe with big directors that are wealthy and familiar enough to reach the main public, we usually pay more attention to the actors or the special effects more than we do the people behind the movies and their growth. Almodovar's films appearently are "in dialogue" with each other and some of his characters are repeated.

I like this director and the approach he takes in his movies. Instead of having the characters TELL us how we should be reacting or how sad their (and therefore our) world is, we have this array of interpretations and emotions and solutions and QUESTIONS. Alamadovar manipulates the visual, oratory, and symbolic aspects of a film to get us thinking. Unlike a book with summary and words, a movie is an experience in itself.

Habla con Ella is a little weird, a little unsettleling, a little creepy. And it is not because everything is wrong or inappropriate but because of the possiblity that maybe not everything we think is wrong really is. maybe there are exceptions, and does that makes us bad? there's lots of grey in our supposed black/white world. and lots of questions that go unanswered because they are uncomfortable or just, hard.

donacuca