{"id":6671,"date":"2024-10-25T11:46:11","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=6671"},"modified":"2024-10-25T11:46:11","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T15:46:11","slug":"parallel-mothers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/10\/25\/parallel-mothers\/","title":{"rendered":"Parallel Mothers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Parallel Mothers<\/strong> (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sony Pictures Classics\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 123 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (some sexuality)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Pedro Almodovar\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Pedro Almodovar\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Alberto Iglesias\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jose Luis Alcaine\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 24, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Penelope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spoken in Spanish w\/English subtitles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0On the surface, Pedro Almodovar\u2019s latest film Parallel Mothers<\/strong> might seem like another one of his patented melodramas starring his muse, the lustrous Penelope Cruz (Broken Embraces). It is, for the most part, but something lurks just beneath the veneer. It shows itself a few times throughout before it fully reveals itself at the end. But why don\u2019t we put a pin in this for now.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cruz, who\u2019s up for Best Actress for her wonderful performance here, stars as Janis, a professional photographer living in Madrid. She\u2019s single and nearing 40; her biological clock could run out at any minute. It\u2019s the main reason she decides to keep the baby that results from her one night stand with forensic archeologist Arturo (Elejalde, Magical Girl). He can\u2019t leave his terminally ill wife, so she\u2019ll be raising it on her own.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When her due date arrives, Janis finds herself sharing a hospital room with Ana (Smit, Cross the Line), a 17YO girl with no husband and no idea what she\u2019s doing. Her mother, narcissistic stage actress Teresa (Gijon, A Walk in the Clouds), isn\u2019t much help. She\u2019s more concerned with her career than her daughter\u2019s well-being. Both women have their babies and after a brief period of observation, they\u2019re allowed to take them home.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I don\u2019t want to elaborate too much further; it would be a sin to spoil the twists and turns that lie ahead in Parallel Mothers<\/strong>. I\u2019m only going to tell you that the drama kicks into high gear when Arturo asks to meet his daughter and observes that she doesn\u2019t look like him. He\u2019s not saying he didn\u2019t father a child with Janis; he just believes the baby isn\u2019t his. Okay, that\u2019s all I\u2019m saying.<\/p>\n

\u00a0With Parallel Mothers<\/strong>, we get more than the expected melodrama. We get a story that\u2019s as political as it personal. It deals head-on with Spain\u2019s troubled history, the civil war that rocked the country in the 1930s in particular. At the beginning, Janis asks for Arturo\u2019s help in excavating a mass grave in her hometown that contains the body of her great-grandfather. He was murdered along with several other men from the village by Franco\u2019s troops. The subject comes up a few times, but mostly takes a backseat to the drama. Near the end, it comes to the forefront with stories from survivors eager to finally lay their loved ones to rest properly. They have vivid recollections of their loved ones being taken from their homes never to return. It\u2019s heavy stuff, but Almodovar makes it accessible by filtering it through the prism of a high-end telenovela.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cruz turns in another brilliant performance thus confirming she and Almodovar are an artistic match made in heaven. He knows how to bring out the best in her and she knows exactly how to translate his written words to film language. Sexy and smart, Cruz depicts a woman who\u2019s both strong and vulnerable. She takes us through her character\u2019s many emotional highs and lows with equal conviction, all the while maintaining a strong emotional connection with the viewer. Smit is equally amazing as Ana, a young girl whose tragic backstory will break your heart. She\u2019s not close to either parent so she looks to the older and presumably wiser Janis for guidance and support. They become close in ways you can\u2019t imagine. Gijon is very good as the self-involved mother who\u2019d rather brag about a successful audition than her family. Of course, no Almodovar film would be complete without Rossy de Palma; she shows up in a lot of his films. Here she plays Janis\u2019 best friend Elena, a zesty, no-BS sort always at the ready with advice and support.<\/p>\n

\u00a0True to form, Almodovar bathes Parallel Mothers<\/strong> in bright, vibrant colors, all beautifully captured by cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine working in perfect conjunction with production designer Antxon Gomez who gives the film its chic and dramatic look. As I\u2019m sure you understand, Almodovar\u2019s films are largely visual. They\u2019re a delight to look at.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The only problem with Parallel Mothers<\/strong> is the slightly awkward transition from melodrama to serious drama. It happens suddenly even though it\u2019s hinted at throughout. Despite this, it\u2019s a remarkable film from start to finish. The final shot will be a subject of debate, I\u2019m sure. I had to think about it afterwards. I have my own idea of what it means, but I\u2019ll keep it to myself. It\u2019s better you decide for yourself. It\u2019s more fun that way. Is this not one of the functions of cinema? It IS!\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parallel Mothers (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sony Pictures Classics\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 123 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (some sexuality)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Pedro Almodovar\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Pedro Almodovar\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Alberto Iglesias\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jose Luis Alcaine\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 24, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Penelope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Julieta Serrano, Rossy de Palma.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spoken in Spanish w\/English subtitles Rating: *** \u00bd \u00a0On […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas","category-foreign"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Parallel-Mothers-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6671"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7334,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6671\/revisions\/7334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}