classicsoncall I liked the way director Pedro Almodóvar had some fun with this picture during an opening scene when he had Esteban (Eloy Azorín) rename "All About Eve" into Spanish properly. It had the effect of drawing even more attention to the title of this film, "Todo sobre mi madre". It was also noteworthy that he provided an homage of sorts to two American movie classics, the other being "A Streetcar Named Desire". As for this story, I'm not quite sure what to make of it all. Try as I might, I can't imagine someone of basically a normal disposition like Manuela (Cecilia Roth) to be involved in so many dysfunctional relationships as she encountered in Barcelona. The search for her deceased son's father and her ex-husband was noble, but the journey revealed an entire retinue of people that would make your skin crawl under normal circumstances. The topper was the transsexual Lola (Toni Cantó), who turned out to be the ex-husband, and also the father of a baby by a nun! It would have to be explained how that relationship ever came about, as the circumstance is presented as given which is just too much of a fantastical stretch to warrant consideration.I don't know much about director Almodóvar, other than what I've read on his IMDb bio page, but if this picture is any indication, it appears that he goes for something of shock value to his stories. Which is OK I guess, but it would have the tendency to put off some viewers with his odd characters and even odder situations. It's curious how he attempts to convey the humanity of his characters, but it's also enlightening to know how he actually describes some of them - "If I lived like my characters, I would have been dead before I made sixteen films". Which seems to illustrate my point.

ma-cortes Offbeat drama about an occupied single mother called Manuela (Cecilia Roth) becomes involved with family problems . Young Esteban (Eloy Azorin) want to become a writer and also to discover the identity of his father, carefully concealed by his beloved mother . Later on , there occurs a tragedy , then Manuela leaves Madrid for Barcelona , there hooks up old and new friends and ,just may be , contacts the long estranged father (Tony Canto) the boy never knew and her son's favourite stage diva (Marisa Paredes) . As Manuela gradually regains the will to live through her involvements with the lives with others such as a transvestite (Antonia San Juan) and a pregnant nun (Penelope Cruz) . Part of every woman is a mother/actress/saint/sinner and part of every man is a woman.Agreeable film full of feeling , outlandish characters , haunting mood-pieces , Spanish Neo-realism , and sense of style but not totally satisfactory , including conventional pitfalls , profanities and a lot of sexual references . The picture deals with off-the-wall as well as semi-ironic melodrama , familiar absurdities, dysfunctional roles and many other things ; featuring a feminist heroine of classical proportions . The picture is pretty well but turns out to be inferior to Almodovar's subsequent entries such as ¨The skin I live in¨, ¨Volver¨ , ¨The bad education¨ or ¨Talk to her¨. The result is undiluted scabrous drama , crazy strings of plots , sharp images , plenty of sexual dialogs in constant references to blow-jobs and perverted sex . Filmmaker piles up on the contrivances , turns and twisted events so that the picture to have success . It's a piquant look at lower-middle classes involving strange and complicated situations during its half an hour runtime . Pedro Almodóvar dedicated his movie to Bette Davis, Gena Rowlands and Romy Schneider . And being influenced by American films such as ¨All about Eva¨, ¨A streetcar named desire¨ and by director Douglas Sirk . Nice interpretations by all cast , as Cecilia Roth as a hard-working single mummy , Penelope Cruz as a young nun bound for El Salvador, but instead finds out she is pregnant and Antonia San Juan as likable transvestite , she splendidly plays a monologue based on a real life event as when the electronic system of an theater failed, the director suspended the show , then an actress decided to give the news to the audience and make them an offer: if they'd stay, they could listen to the narration of her life . Furthermore , a notorious support cast such as Marisa Paredes , Rosa Maria Sarda , Fernando Fernan Gomez , Candela Peña ,Manuel Lozano , Juan Jose Otegui and other delightfully played roles . As usual in most of Pedro Almodóvar's movies, there is a small role for Agustín Almodóvar, his brother and producer of the film, who plays a cab man . Sensitive musical score by Alberto Iglesias , Almodovar's ordinary ; including some marvelous songs . Colorful and luxurious cinematography by Alfonso Beato . The motion picture was realized in his peculiar style by Pedro Almodovar ; he often uses symbolism and metaphorical techniques to portray circular story lines though here he directs a special melodrama , including his ordinary touches . Almodovar directs throughout with splendid zip and he usually portrays strong female characters and transsexuals and along his career getting some important international prizes . His first feature film, Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980), was made in 16 mm and blown-up to 35 mm for public release . In 1987, he and his brother Agustín Almodóvar established their own production company : El Deseo, S. A. The "Almodóvar phenomenon" has reached all over the world , making his films very popular in many countries . Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar who made successes such as Labyrinth of passions , Law of desire , Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown , Bad education , All about my mother , Talk to her , Broken embraces , The Skin I Live In and many others . The latest from acclaimed Spanish director , Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited (Los Amantes Pasajeros) competing for the inaugural best European comedy honor during the upcoming 26th edition of the European Film Awards .

arthera09 "All About My Mother" is an extremely well put together film that is an intriguing combination of art-house and Oscar bait. Almodorav has managed to put together a movie with a strong emotional core all the while making some interesting stylistic choices. At the heart of this movie is a story of a mother come to terms with the recent death of her only son on his 17th birthday. We see her give up her life in Madrid as a nurse and return to Barcelona where she had a more tumultuous life before moving to Madrid.The movie does an excellent job establishing the relationship between the mother and the son so when the son dies one can really feel the emotional impact. This is where we first see Cecilia Roth shine in the role of Manuela. We are really able to feel that this is a difficult time in her life and that when she decides to pick up and start her life over we understand. When she gets to Barcelona we are immediately thrust into the underworld and are introduced to Antonia San Juan who does an excellent playing Manuela's old friend a pre-op transvestite. She does come off as being a bit over the top at times, but is never out of character. There is a scene where Agrado was given the opportunity to put on a one women show she seems to drop the ball and a scene with a lot of potential was fairly tame. My biggest problem with the movie is the relationship between Penelope Cruz's character, Rosa, and Manuela. I was confused on how Rosa came to trust Manuela so completely so quickly. I do not think that Cruz did anything special with the character, which was unfortunate because she is such an important part of the story of Manuela. Since this movie is about Manuela as a mother and since she adopts Rosa's baby, when she dies in child birth, it is disappointing that there was not more of a connection between Roth and Cruz on screen. I did love some of the transition shots used and the one at the end with the train going from Barcelona and then back again was neat. These type of shots along with the soundtrack keeps this movie from being too boring and not just a rehashing of the same story. Also I like the almost meta aspect of the theater production of A Streetcar Name Desire. I enjoyed how it was interwoven into the story and how the actress and the story play itself became a part of Manuela's growth. Watching her take care of the principle actresses and Rosa allowed the viewer to never lose track of what made Manuela a mother. Overall this movie was extremely well put together, but there were weaknesses to be had. At times the movie lost focus on Manuela and focused a bit too much on Agrado or Rosa's stories. It was a fresh take on what normally would have been a boring and bland Oscar bait movie.

Herag Halli A film about transversites' is not my cup of tea, but what is engrossing is the acting that is riveting at times even without reading the subtitles. The central character, Lola, even though makes a late appearance like a mystery movie, makes the the story more poignant. It is Manuella (Cecilia Roth) who pulls the most heartstrings. The director who is well known in Spain and was instrumental in putting Penelope Cruz in the movies does a good job juggling the scenes between two cities and four or five characters. Cruz, as sister Rosa, is subtle and impressionable for a short role. The movie is gripping even with subtitles and certainly worth watching but I would not rate it as a Ten.