Talk to Her/Hable con Ella (2002) - Almodóvar's beautiful coma love drama

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+ Best Spanish Movie of the Year 

 

Two beautiful women in contrasting hues of red and blue make up this poster for Pedro Almodóvar's Talk to Her

Two men forge a friendship over their common predicament of having their loved ones be in a coma.

 

Talk to Her is written and directed by Spanish master filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (Folle... Folle... Fólleme Tim! (1978)), whose 15th feature it is.

It is one of Almodóvar's very finest, delving into themes of loneliness, desperation, abuse, pride and loss, while also dealing with phobias and bullfighting. It is a film of beautiful and unusual content with lovely performances, which is eminently beautifully filmed by cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (Goya's Ghosts (2006)), wonderfully scripted by Almodóvar, and heightened by a piercingly beautiful score by Alberto Iglesias (Volver (2006)).

 

Related posts:

Pedro Almodóvar: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess  

Pain and Glory/Dolor y Gloria (2019) - Almodóvar's 8½ 
The Skin I Live In/La Piel que Habito (2011) or, Almodóvar's Extreme Make-Over
Broken Embraces/Los Abrazos Rotos (2009) or, Mysteries in Love and Life

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
Live Flesh/Carne Trémula (1997) or, A Spanish Fix
Labyrinth of Passion/Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) - Sexual mix-ups in screwball Madrileña style 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 64.7 mil. $

= Uncertain, but likely a huge hit

[Talk to Her was released 15 March (Spain) and runs 112 minutes. Shooting took place from July - October 2001 in Spain, including Madrid. The film opened #37 to a 104k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #22 and in 255 theaters, grossing 9.2 mil. $ (14.2 % of the total gross). North America was the film's 3rd biggest market. The 2 biggest were Spain with  The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 10.2 mil. $ (15.8 %) and France with 9.5 mil. $ (14.7 %). If made on a realistic, lavish 10 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a huge hit. It was nominated for 2 Oscars; Best Director, lost to Roman Polanski for The Pianist, and Best Original Screenplay, which it won. Spain mysteriously nominated Mondays in the Sun for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar that year over Talk to Her. The film also won a Golden Globe, 2 BAFTAs, a César award, was nominated for a David di Donatello award, won 5/7 European Film award nominations, 1/7 Goya award nominations and 2 National Board of Review awards, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Almodóvar returned with Bad Education/La Mala Educación (2004). Javier Cámara (Age of Monster/El Tiempo de los Monstruos (2015)) returned in Looking for Chencho (2002, short) and theatrically in Torremolinos 73 (2003); Darío Grandinetti (The Good Boy/Segundo Asalto (2005)) in Final Minute (2000-02) and theatrically in Ilusión de Movimiento (2003); Leonor Watling (Todas Hieren (1998)) in Desire/Deseo (2002); and Rosario Flores (Entreacte (1989)) in Hypnotized and Hysterical (Hairstylist Wanted)/Filles Perdues, Cheveux Gras (2002). Talk to Her is certified fresh at 91 % with an 8.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Talk to Her?

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) - Alfredson's heavily plotted, dreary spy hunt

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Gary Oldman straightens his glasses as the lead spy on the poster for Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

QUICK REVIEW:

Once in the Cold War, Mr. Smiley is frozen out of the intelligence Circus in London, only to be recruited again to find and root out the Soviet mole that plagues the very same institution.

Good performances by Gary Oldman (Lawless (2012)), Mark Strong (John Carter (2012)) and David Dencik (The Homesman (2014)) improve but do not save this unnecessarily knobbly told intelligence thriller, the second adaptation, following the same-titled 1979 BBC mini-series, of John Le Carré's (The Russia House (1989)) 1974 novel. Adapted by Bridget O'Connor (Mrs. Ratcliffe's Revolution (2007)), who sadly passed away during production, and her husband Peter Straughan (Frank (2014)).
Aesthetically this version, by Swedish director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In/Låt den Rätte Komma In (2008)) in his English-language debut, gorges on the period's ugliest, most color-deprived misery, just like the BBC series did. Only this new Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has a little more blood and higher pace than the dragging show had. I was also frustrated that there is no clear indices of the year that the plot takes place in.
Ultimately, I think Alfredson's film is another rather dull cinematic round based on Carré material; this one is excessively esoteric as well as severely unattractive due to its asceticism.

Watch the great trailer for the film here, which makes it look exceedingly exciting

Cost: 21 mil. $
Box office: 80.6 mil. $
= Big hit
[Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was tremendously successful in its native UK, (though it is, in fact, a UK-German-French co-production), where it made 14 mil. £ and stayed #1 for three consecutive weeks. It also made a handsome 24.1 mil. $ (30 % of the total gross) in North America. The film was also nominated for three Oscars, for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Score (Alberto Iglesias (The Constant Gardner (2005))) and Best Actor (Oldman), winning none.]

What do you think of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy?

Che: Part One - The Argentine (2008) - Soderbergh's sober depiction of the Cuban revolution

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+ Best Political Movie of the Year

A tense moment from the film on a poster for Steven Soderbergh's Che: Part One - The Argentine

QUICK REVIEW:

When 'Che' Guevara in the late 1950s decides to go for a coup d'etat of the American-supported president Bautista's Cuban government, he starts a spreading, violent revolution.

Master film-maker Steven Soderbergh (Haywire (2011)) here gives an external portrait of the legendary man and his Marxist-Communist politics. He remains, in my view of the film, an unreasonable, - albeit fascinating, - commander.
The film, which continues in a Part Two, is not awfully engaging, but it is technically second to none: Soderbergh's command of the digital formats, colors and the music (by Alberto Iglesias (The Constant Gardener (2005))), - together with Benicio Del Toro's (21 Grams (2003)) performance as the title lead, - are outstanding.
Soderbergh is taking a break from directing after completing 20 episodes of the hospital show with Clive Owen, The Knick (2014-15), and I for one really hope he'll return to the feature director's chair sooner rather than later.

Related reviews:

Steven Soderbergh: Side Effects (2013) - Modern people screw up in excellent thriller 
Behind the Candelabra (2013) - Restraint and extravagance 
Magic Mike (2012) - Soderbergh and Tatum score big with cheeky male strip romp 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark 

Watch the trailer for the two films here

Cost: Estimated 35 mil. $
Box office: 40.9 mil. $ (Che: Part 1 and Che: Part 2 together)
= Huge flop
[The joint budget of the films were 58 mil. $, which were gathered with much difficulty. Theatrically, the films have been a flop, doing best in Spanish-speaking countries (controversially, Soderbergh maintained that the films had to be shot in Spanish). Che: Part 1 only made 1.7 mil. $ in the States.]

What do you think of Soderbergh's Che-films, individually and as a whole?
What image of Che did you get from it/them?