Volver – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

DVD available at Amazon.com

Director:
Pedro Almodovar

Cast:
Penelope Cruz….Raimunda
Carmen Maura….Irene
Lola Duenas….Sole
Blanca Portillo….Agustina
Yohana Cobo….Paula
Chus Lampreave….Tia Paula
Antonio de la Torre….Paco

Sony Classic Home Video presents Volver. Screenplay by Pedro Almodovar. Running time: 121 minutes. Rated R. Theatrical release Jan. 26, 2007. DVD release: April. 3, 2007.

The Movie

Most murder stories involving ghosts have plots that deal with the spirit seeking revenge on their killer. But that’s not the case in Volver. Spanish director Pedro Almodovar gives us a ghost that doesn’t haunt the scene of the crime until the guilty confess. In Volver, we meet a ghost that spooks her family in order to forget why she took up refuge in an earthly afterlife.

Raimunda works way too many jobs. On her only day off, she and her daughter travel to their hometown’s cemetery to clean her mother’s grave. They also visit with a senile aunt. When they return home, her husband Paco gives the news that he’s been fired. He’s decided to use this downtime to get drunk and watch soccer. While Raimunda is busting her hump making the rent, Paco attempts to hump his daughter; the teen doesn’t take kindly to the invitation to incest. Raimunda returns home to clean up the ugliness. She also receives the word of her aunt’s death. Life just keeps dealing her a bad hand. While Sole, Raimunda’s sister, cleans up the aunt’s house, she discovers the ghost of their mother. Turns out this maternal spirit has been helping out the aunt. The ghost wants to avoid letting her presence be known to Raimunda. She haunts Sole’s house. How long can the ghost stay invisible to her other child?

Most friendly ghost stories involving deceased parents become annoying to the point where you want to exorcise the phantom by turning on the theater lights. Who didn’t have nightmares after experiencing Da with Martin Sheen? You beg for the sweet family spirit to transform into a possessed demon and attack the family. Instead they kill us with their saccharine kindness. Almodovar’s script avoids this trap since the mystery of why the mother can’t go to heaven has a perfect payoff. He doesn’t go overboard with any ghost effects as if he was making Casper 15. The supernatural elements are empowered by the emotions of the characters and not a CGI technician.

The casting adds to the depth of the story since the ghost is played by Carmen Maura. She was Almodovar’s original superstar actresses and helped make Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown an art house sensation. She hasn’t worked with him for 17 years so for fans of the director, it is the return of a ghost when she appears on the screen. It is also appropriate for her to appear in this film since most of the female characters have breakdowns to various degrees. Almodovar has crafted another female melodrama that seems lifted from a black and white era. If he had made this movie 50 years ago, he would have cast Sophia Loren and Anna Magnani in the lead roles. But Cruz and Maura shine in their replacement roles. A TV plays a clip from Bellissima (1951) so you can compare Maura with the legendary Magnani. The two are twins.

Penelope Cruz gives the performance of her career. She seemed bound for a career in cinematic cheese with Sahara and Bandidas; but she returned home to Spain to reclaim her artistic soul thanks to Almodovar. He and his crew have made a film that succeeds by not merely paying tribute to classic female films, but by being a great film on its own terms. Volver is a family ghost story that doesn’t send me running out of the dark room. This is the perfect film to impress your date when they suggest a recent foreign film for the evening’s entertainment.

The DVD:

VIDEO:
The picture is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The transfer is pristine with clear details. The colors have a pop to them with the saturated reds.

AUDIO:
The soundtrack is only a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1. There’s no English dub. The subtitles are in English. The commentary track has Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz chatting away in Spanish. Luckily, there are English subtitles for the commentary track.Almadovar explains how he’d rather avoid showing a flashback when the impact of the event should be seen in the actor’s face as they retell the story. This is so true in the film when the ghostly mother confesses to her daughter.

EXTRAS:

Making of Volver (7:56) is a behind the scenes video that contains no live sound or narration. It’s a montage showing all the camera work and set design that went into the film.

Interview with Pedro Almodovar (10:06) has the director talking about growing up in the flat lands of La Mancha has influenced his artistic outlook. He answers the questions in Spanish. It’s subtitled.

Interview with Penelope Cruz (5:25) has her talking about her return to Spain and working with Almadovar for the third time. She answers in English.

Interview with Carmen Maura (8:19) has her explaining what it was like working with Almadovar after 17 years. She says that while he’s different as a person, when it came to directing her, he was the same guy. This is in Spanish with English subtitles.

Tribute to Penelope Cruz (18:10) has an interview with the actress conducted by L.A. Times‘ Kenneth Turan at the AFI Fest in 2006. It’s a very amateur video. There’s so little light on them like they’re sitting in the janitor’s closet. Because of a bad microphone job, you can barely hear Cruz over Turan’s constant chuckle. She talks about how her family’s Betamax led to her obsession with Almodovar. The folks at AFI really should be ashamed for not producing a higher quality video. It really doesn’t speak highly of their filmmaking program if this is their standard.

Photo Gallery contains dozens of production and publicity stills.

Poster Gallery has a examples of how the film was sold around the world. Quite a few countries used the image of Cruz pulling the shopping cart.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Volver
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

9
THE VIDEO

9
THE AUDIO

9
THE EXTRAS

7
REPLAY VALUE

8
OVERALL
9
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.