Pedro Almodovar

True to form, Almodóvar gets unimpeachable performances from his cast (particularly Bernal...) and paints his frames with gleefully lurid strokes.

Though its humble pleasures give cause to pause and reflect on the Spanish filmmaker's occasionally overpraised output, Volver is a diverting melodrama...

This isn't the first time Almodóvar has explored cinema and its power to change lives, but for all its colorful visuals and narrative sophistication, the story feels more insular than ever.

A perverted comedy of manners, with the characters spilling drinks, secrets, and sperm...but coming more from a place of 'I'm going to make my dolls kiss. Won't that be naughty?' than one of productive social satire.

The filmmaker contemplating his own creation as a man and an artist...plays as a poetic remembrance of things past, a reconciliation of self, powerfully capturing the emotional essence of keenly formative experiences and deep loves.