# Todo sobre mi madre (1999)

### reviewed by
Jon Popick

PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com

It seems to be an annual tradition this time of year. I'm not talking about Christmas shopping or trimming the tree or even packing yourself full of turkey and pie. The custom I refer to is that of heaping oodles of undeserving praise on a small, independent foreign film. Last year, it was the Brazilian festival fave Central Station, which nabbed two Oscar nominations (for Best Actress and Best Foreign Film). This year, it's Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother.

Don't get me wrong – it's not a bad movie at all. In fact, it's better than Central Station. But a Best Director win at Cannes? Two European Film Award nominations (Picture and Actress)? And five-star review after five-star review? I just don't get it. I would have to use two hands to count the number of superior films in competition at Cannes. Better than Kikujiro? Not a chance in hell. Among other favorites, Almodóvar beat David Lynch, Peter Greenaway, Jim Jarmusch, Atom Egoyan, John Sayles, Michael Winterbottom and Tim Robbins for the Best Director award.

The film centers around a woman in her late thirties named Manuela (Cecilia Roth – think Deborah Kara Unger in about ten years). She's a hospital nurse and single mom with a seventeen-year-old son named Esteban (Eloy Azorín) who dreams of becoming a writer. As the picture opens, Manuela and Esteban watch a dubbed version of All About Eve, discussing the translation of its title into Spanish (so you'll be watching English subtitles of an American film dubbed in Spanish – oy vey!). For Esteban's birthday, the two take in a stage performance of A Streetcar Named Desire, but he is killed in an accident trying to get an autograph after the show.

This is where Almodóvar (Live Flesh) shines, tactfully blending scenes from both Eve and the stage version of Streetcar to underscore the emotion of his characters. Add to that a nifty ironic twist early on involving organ donation that I won't reveal here, even though I've heard he used a similar theme in The Flower of My Secret (which I've never seen). The use of Streetcar is serendipitous as Manuela actually played Stella several years ago in a Barcelona production, opposite a Kowalski that became Esteban's father. She always told her son that his father died before he was born but in reality, Manuela took off for Madrid, pregnant with Esteban and neglecting to tell the father.

All About My Mother, an obvious homage to the title of All About Eve, is basically the story of Manuela's attempt to track down the father of her child in Barcelona, reversing her journey from seventeen years ago. She meets many zany characters along the way, including a pregnant nun (Penélope Cruz), a transsexual (Antonia San Juan), a junkie (Candela Peña) and an actress (Marisa Paredes). Each woman helps to demonstrate a powerful quote from the film - `Women will do anything to avoid being alone.'

Mother, like other Almodóvar films, is a non-stop visual assault of bright, beautiful colors (his Live Flesh cinematographer Affonso Beato is back here). He's a brilliant director, and his cast is full of fantastic actresses (namely Roth), but the story isn't all there. It plays like a cheesy Spanish soap opera that you might stumble upon flipping through cable stations. I have a feeling that guy in the giant bee costume may be more entertaining. Alberto Iglesias provides the acoustic-heavy score.

1:45 - R for sexuality including strong sexual dialogue, nudity, adult language and drug content

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