Volver

This was a quirky little movie, and definitely unique. I appreciated being forced to sit and just watch a movie for once (subtitles will do that to you).

Penelope Cruz is some pretty hot stuff. It's funny to see her in a movie role where she's speaking Spanish, although this shouldn't be funny, since it's her native language. But her speech is so rapid and harsh-sounding and very natural. Again, shouldn't be surprising, but I'm just used to hearing her halting and accented English.

The plot was somewhat predictable. I guessed who Paula's father was as soon as Raimunda said, "He's dead," and I figured out that Irene wasn't actually a ghost before Raimunda ever even saw her, though apparently Sole and Paula never did figure that out themselves. I also figured out that it was Agustina's mother who died in the fire, not Sole and Raimunda's. But predictability didn't ruin it for me. It was still fun and interesting to watch.

I don't think I could call this a comedy, though. I guess there was situational irony, and a sort of lighthearted attitude in the face of serious subjects, enough so that it certainly wasn't a drama. But none of it was (for me) laugh-out-loud funny, let alone groan-out-loud funny. Also, I did find it a little bit difficult to believe that gorgeous Raimunda was a sister to homely Sole, although at least this made sense with their father's attraction (ugh!) to one sister but not the other.

It is interesting to note (well, interesting to this non-Spanish-speaker, at least) that the title of the movie means "to return." Of course this applies not only to the return of Irene, but also to Sole and Raimunda's return home.