Broken Embraces was released in Canada on September 10, 2009 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It's a foreign film, originally titled Los Abrazos Rotos. The cast is an ocean of Spanish actors, including the gorgeous Penelope Cruz. It is directed by Pedro Almodovar, who we remember from Volver and Matador.
In this story, the lead is played beautifully by Lluis Homar. He is a blind director turned screenplay writer who, upon learning of the death of a wealthy man from his past, unfolds the story of how he lost his sight. This story inevitably includes a love affair with Cruz. The film transitions beautifully from present to past, and unfolds a gripping story with delicious character development.
Broken Embraces will minimally be nominated for Best Foreign Film. But judging from what I have seen so far, it will get attention elsewhere. The directing is very good, and both Cruz and Homar were just wonderful. Cruz just gets better with each film. It's debatable whether they will give her a statue in consecutive years, but a nomination is not a big reach. Homar is an unknown to North America, but is very established in Spanish films, and may have made his mark in the English world with this one.
This was a very entertaining movie. The serious buff will not be distracted by the subtitles, and the story is more gripping than most English films I have seen this year. You will have to shop around for a theatre that's showing it, but it will be worth your search.
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