Jul. 29, 2003 - 9:45 pm
a.k.a. Talk to Her. ok, i know the first thing you're thinking is "That looks like a man on the cover of the movie box/poster." well, despite what Pedro Almodovar may have done in the past, this film does not feature any cross-dressing men nor blatantly homosexual men. not to say that that's good or bad. it just surprised me. i always thought that that was a man on the cover that was supposed to be dressed up like a woman or something. i'm sure i wasn't alone in thinking this. but anyway, to settle any confusion, that's just an ugly woman on the cover.
this film was talked about a lot at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, basically because of the Oscars i think. unfortunately it didn't get nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category. apparently Spain nominated something else and that film didn't even make it to the top 5, so it wasn't "nominated" as such. good job Spain. way to win one for the home team. but seriously, they might have had a chance with this one. it's just idiotic to nominate something else over an Almodovar film. he's a genius.
like in each of his films, the plot is focused on relationships between men and women. relationships that go way beyond the complexities and intensities of "normal" relationships. they're unusual and really suck you in because of the gift with which he tells the story. he can make you think the most bizarre freaks are just like you, or the most terrible crimes are completely understandable. amazing.
in Talk to Her, we learn about a male hospital nurse, Benigno, who takes care of a comatosed young lady named Alicia. he is tireless in his care for her and is constantly talking to her about how he feels and seems to almost have a living relationship with her, although she will never respond to him in any way. we also meet Marco, a writer who is working on a story about Lydia who is a famous bullfighter. soon after Marco and Lydia form a relationship, she ends up in the hospital in a coma in a room near that of Alicia. Marco begins to form a friendship with Benigno and they come to an understanding that a relationship can be held on to even if one of the two people involved cannot respond to the other.
i think one of the things i like best about foreign films is that you get to see fresh faces. it gets tiresome seeing the same few stars over and over again as we do so often in America. granted, you get plenty of chances in America to see new people, but usually not in big budget pictures. i guess that's the good thing about being a big name director like Almodovar. you can hire whoever you want and you'll still make money all over the globe. but he couldn't do that without his inherent talents. it's like the whole credit card loop. gotta have good credit to get the card...gotta have the card to get good credit...