Broken Embraces

The latest collaboration between director Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz is a neo-noir drama marked by an epic, complicated and twisting four-way romance.

From Variety:

Harry Caine (Lluis Homar, “Bad Education”) is a blind screenwriter and former director whose real name, which he abandoned after losing his sight in a car crash, is Mateo Blanco. News arrives of the death of corrupt stockbroker Ernesto Martel (Jose Luis Gomez), who once produced a movie Blanco directed, “Girls and Suitcases.”

Blanco’s former production manager, Judit (Blanca Portillo), who holds a candle for him, seems nervous at the news. And then a pretentious young man calling himself Ray X (Ruben Ochandiano), who turns out to be Martel’s son, asks Blanco to help write a script that’s intended as an act of vengeance against his neglectful father.

The film now flashes back to 1992, when Martel fell for his secretary, a wannabe actress-cum-part-time call girl, Lena (Penelope Cruz). By 1994, he and Lena are an item. However, when Lena auditions for “Girls and Suitcases,” Blanco also falls for her.

Chagrined, Martel gets his son (also Ochandiano, here as a wildly gauche, camp teenager) to spy on Blanco and Lena under the guise of making a docu about the shoot. Watching Martel’s life fall apart, as a lip reader (Lola Duenas) decodes Lena and Blanco’s conversations in the boy’s footage, is hilarious. But any compassion for Martel evaporates in the laughter -- one of several moments when the film deliberately undermines a particular mood.

Following a disastrous trip to Ibiza, Martel and Lena break up, and Martel initiates a slow, costly revenge designed to destroy Blanco. Hereon, much of the action takes place amid the volcanic landscapes of Lanzarote, opening things visually even as the drama becomes more and more claustrophobic.

Broken Embraces was just in the Bangkok International Film Festival, so if you missed there, you're in luck. It'll be at Paragon Cineplex until October 14 and is expected to move over to the Apex cinemas afterward. It's in Spanish with English and Thai subtitles. Rated 18+.

Cherry Blossoms

In Cherry Blossoms, a drama by German director Doris Dörrie, a grouchy retired Bavarian civil servant receives news of his impending death. His wife arranges to bring all their children together for a seaside resort holiday to break the bad news. And then she dies.

Left alone, the husband uncovers his wife's obsession with Japanese culture, which at least partially stems from their son living in Tokyo. So the old man cashes in everything in Germany and books a flight. In Japan, he slowly assimilates himself into the rhythms of life and strikes up an odd friendship with a young woman who is a street performer.

This beautiful film was shown at last year's World Film Festival of Bangkok, and now House on RCA has brought back for another run.

Also opening

Hor Taew Taek Hak Krajerng -- Jaturong Mokjok, Yingsak Jonglertjessadawong and Ekachai Sriwichai are back in drag in the sequel to Poj Arnon’s hit 2007 horror comedy. They play gay cross-dressing brothers  who run a university dormitory that’s in trouble because of a troublesome ghost, played by the irressible young comedienne Sudarat “Tookie” Butrprom. Their solution is to bring in their own ghost (Kotee Aramboy) to fight back. Rated 15+.

Sorority Row -- Sorority girls try to cover up the death of one of their sisters after a prank goes wrong, only to find themselves stalked by a serial killer. Carrie Fisher stars as the sorority house mother. Rated 18+.

The Time Traveller’s Wife -- Based on the best-selling novel by Audrey Niffenegger, this romantic drama stars Eric Bana as a librarian who involuntarily travels through time. Rachel MacAdams plays his wife. Rated G.

G-Force -- A specially trained squad of talking guinea pigs is dispatched to stop a diabolical billionaire from taking over the world. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, this Disney CG-animated/live-action comedy features the voices of Sam Rockwell, Tracy Morgan, Penelope Cruz, Jon Favreau and Nicolas Cage along with Zach Galifianakis, Bill Nighy and Will Arnett in the flesh. Rated G.

Wake Up Sid -- Ranbir Kapoor stars in this comedy as young slacker in Mumbai who is forced to take a hard look at himself. Konkona Sen Sharma also stars. In Hindi with English subtitles today and tomorrow at 8 and Sunday at 4 and 7.15 at SFW CentralWorld. Call (089) 488 2620 (02) 225 7500 or visit www.BollywoodThai.com.

Also showing

Chinese Film Festival -- Wow. So many film festivals. This actually started on Wednesday and has hardly been publicized, except perhaps in the Chinese-speaking community of Bangkok. Celebrating 60 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it's an interesting mix of films from Mainland China. Today is Romance on Lushan Mountain, a 1980 drama about star-crossed lovers that holds the record for longest showing of a first-run movie. It's been showing at one local cinema since 1980. Saturday's show is Third Sister Liu, a 1961 musical (later turned into a gigantic stage show by Zhang Yimou) about a spunky peasant girl who stands up to a wealthy landowner -- she sings to him! On Sunday, Zhang Ziyi stars in 2006's Jasmine Woman. She portrays three young women in this generational family saga set in Shanghai in the 1930s, the '60s and the '80s. The closing movie on Monday is Love, Come Back, about two boys who swap places as a punishment for a lazy city, who is sent packing off to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia while his rural counterpart gets to take in the sights of Beijing. They're all playing at SFX Emporium. Admission is free. The showtime is at 7.30.

Rock On -- Four young musicians who form a rock band and win a competition on Channel [V]. But differences arise, and they break up, each leading a totally different life, until a series of coincidences bring them back together 10 years later. It's showing at 8 on Monday the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand. Admission for non-members is 150 baht, plus 100 baht more for anyone, members or not, wanting to dig into the Indian buffet from Masala Art.

This a preview of the Bollywood Film Festival starting next Friday at Major Cineplex Sukhumvit (Ekamai), as well as the stage musical Merchants of Bollywood coming to Royal Paragon Hall on October 22 to 26.

Take note

Last week, I didn't get around to posting about the new releases in cinemas because the Bangkok International Film Festival was going on and I was swamped. Briefly, the openings last week were the sci-fi thriller Pandorum starring Ben Foster and Dennis Quaid. Set on a ship in deep space, it has a decidedly Alien atmosphere. Streets of Blood starring Val Kilmer opend at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. Val plays a police detective in post-Katrina New Orleans, investigating the death of his partner. It sounds somewhat similar to the Bangkok International Film Festival's opening film, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans starring Nicolas Cage, which will be opening at SF World next Thursday. Also last week there was Rookies, a Japanese comedy about a bad baseball team that is based on a hit TV series. It's at the Lido.