Keeping busy

One thing I've really liked about the Almodovar films we've watched is the pace. Everything feels so hectic. All these life-changing, usually pretty damn depressing things are happening to people, but there's always so much other zany shit going on (Muslim hijackers, spiked gazpacho, insane wives, frantically feeding film crews, moms coming back from the dead) that the bleak points — gut-wrenching breakups, sexual assaults — don't get a chance to be truly bleak. No sooner does the girl stab her stepfather to death than the mom is in there — in a comic nod to professional housewifery — with her bucket and mop expertly dealing with the mess, and I for one was thinking boy, that scarlet pool of blood looks really pretty on that aquamarine floor. Almodovar makes "dark" comedies, but the darkness is always kept at bay by the manic carnival and color of life.

La madre muerta

Did you at any point believe the mom was actually dead? Did you think there'd be an explanation that was not supernatural?

Leading ladies

What did you think of Penelope Cruz as the heroine? I didn't mind her, but I think she lacked that real spark that was so fantastic in Pepa in "Women on the Verge." And I think Carmen Maura stole all her scenes in "Volver," too. I adored her hiding under the bed and laughing about farts.

Funny

"Volver" was categorized as a comedy everywhere I looked, and it certainly had its amusing moments. But the inclusion of the rapist stepfather and incestuous grandfather gave me pause. I was not expecting that sort of thing, and I found it somewhat difficult to keep it from distracting from the rest of the movie. Your thoughts?

The wind

What was the significance of the east wind? And the wind turbines? KC made the comment that perhaps they were a Don Quixote reference. I've since read that "Volver" was set in La Mancha. Do you see any connection?

The sexes

"Volver" gives us an ensemble of females to root for and a couple of low-life males to despise (one unseen). What do you think Almodovar's thoughts are about men and women? This is only my second film of his, but I'm reminded somewhat of the women and men in "Women on the Verge," who didn't exactly make beautiful music together.

Erin's pick: "Volver"

Let's revisit Pedro Almodovar, shall we? This looks like an interesting storyline.

Christy's pick

I feel a little overwhelmed, selecting the first Cinema Chatter film pick, and I hope that a foreign movie won't turn off prospective members. But "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" is one of my favorite comedies. And my deciding factor was the buzz about director Pedro Almodóvar's upcoming film, "Volver."

I hope you, too, will enjoy heroic women, chickens, a mambo taxi, a well-deserved bitch-slap and a fumbling Antonio Banderas.

What to drink during the movie: Gazpacho.