Volver

Director Pedro Almodóvar likes women. He likes them a lot, and he likes to give them juicy roles. He also likes to show off their multi-layered attributes, as well as their physical ones. Penelope Cruz is absolutely stunning as a woman facing the rumored ghostly return of her mother and a good-for-nothing husband who winds up dead. It’s a very emotional role and Cruz’s ability to make it look effortless is mesmerizing. Like in his other films, Almodóvar uses bright and unnatural mixes of colors to give the film a sense of surrealism. In all its beautiful vivacity, Volver is really all about second chances, especially among female bonds that are often underappreciated, or even nonexistent.