David Rosseau (Jean-Paul Rouve) is a writer that is under a contract with a publisher but has yet to write anything. In fact, he does not even have a title for the novel yet. On his way to redeem what was left for him in a will, he visits small town called Mouthe, which borders France and Switzerland. It is widely considered to be “no man’s land”, where the snow fall hard enough to cause the TV signal to go out and the lights to flicker. While driving through he notices local policemen on the side of a road. As he passes by them he notices a stretch with a sheet covering someone, all that you see is bright blonde hair.

Sure enough, on the news the next morning there is a report that a famous model named Martine Langevin (Sophie Quinton) has passed away. They report that the woman made famous from the cheese commercials had passed away with sleeping pills nearby and that the case was closed. David suddenly gets inspired and has his story.

It is quite obvious that being a detective is a career that David should have chosen to do. The first thing he does after hearing the news is to find out more about Martine’s death. David investigates the area she was found dead in, breaks into where she lived, and even shows up at the morgue to examine her. He does all of this before we see him do any writing. For being a novel writer he sure has a knack for detective work.

I question whether or not he being a writer was really needed. Sure, there are some parts of the film that do reference the fact he was a writer and that she liked his novels but it felt like more of an afterthought than a crucial plot point. With how good he is at playing detective, I feel like he chose the wrong career path.

He becomes increasingly frustrated that the authorities are considering the case closed so quickly. So much so that he begins to suspect that there is something they are covering up. Eventually there is one brave police officer that shares his suspicions and is willing to investigate the case with him.

She hides behind her celebrity face, often referring herself as an alter ego. In days near hear death her love for Marilyn Monroe becomes very apparent. She aspires to be her. They were born on the same date. Both were adored by everyone who laid eyes on them, yet were both depressed on the inside. Not to mention the obvious fact that they are both blonde and celebrity bombshells.

The number 5 makes frequent appearances in the film, if you look closely you can catch them. I first noticed the number 5 as a magnet on Martine’s refrigerator. Then as she describes her dream to her psychiatrist you see her walking through a door with the number 5 on it. It is seen on a record that is spinning (at her funeral of all places). I am not sure I caught the significance of the number but director Gérald Hustache-Mathieu wanted it show up a lot.

My favorite aspect of the film was the cinematography done by Pierre Cottereau. Wide shots of snow falling in vast open areas really played in nicely with the mood of the film. I found myself admiring the camera work more than once.

If I had to point out the biggest flaw in the film, it would be the writing. Which is ironic since the main character in the film is a writer. But the storyline felt like it was on a straight path with not much for turns or twists.

Many have stated that the film is similar to that of Fargo, but aside from the similar weather I fail to see that connection. I would say it has more of a Pedro Almodóvar vibe to it. A well shot mystery with a series of flashbacks and some (albeit small) turns.

Even though Nobody Else But You may have been a little light in the plot department, the film is very watchable thanks to the fine acting and good camera work. Although the film is largely a murder mystery, it combines the right amount of dark comedy into the mix. The thing that hurt it the most was almost everything seemed too coincidental making it hard to believe what is taking place was real and not so illusive.

Within the first 10 minutes we find out all we need to know about Stanislas Graff (Yvan Attal), the head of a corporation with a seemingly massive personal fortune as well. He goes about his work, has a meeting over lunch, meets a mistress at a swanky apartment he owns on the side, loses a large amount of money at a high-stakes poker game and goes home to his wife and children at their large decadent home. After seeing what amounts to a typical day for Graff, the next morning he’s kidnapped while driving to work by a group of masked men. The kidnappers cut off one of Graff’s fingers and attach it to a letter demanding 50 million Euros in exchange for his life.

Of course it all sounds like a standard kidnapping thriller until things begin to go awry. Graff’s kidnapping becomes a major story on the news and, as the tabloids become dominated by the discovery of his multiple mistresses and gambling debts, the tide begins to turn against him. The board of directors at his job suddenly become hesitant about putting any money towards the ransom and his family finds out that their fortune is worth a lot less than they thought which only adds more stress on Graff’s wife (Anne Consigny), looking like she could fit into a Hitchcock film easily). The capture goes on for weeks and eventually it looks like if Graff is ever released he’d be the only person happy about it.

Lucas Belvaux directs Rapt with a strong level of assurance, making its 2 hour runtime zip by as we see more and more failed attempts at releasing Graff from captivity. Yvan Attal shines mostly in the final act as a once powerful man clinging on to what he had, but makes sure that his selfish behaviour that made up the opening still shines through even after everything he’s endured. Belvaux writes his characters in shades of greys, and his cast is smart enough to play on that moral ambiguity as much as possible.

While the film may not have pulled off what it was trying at the end (going into more details would require some major plot points being revealed) Rapt is still a nifty little thriller that’s reminiscent of the type of thrillers we’d see from the 1970s.

Sleepless Night does not take place at the YMCA and is not full of kids having the time of their lives. A lot of them are for sure dancing the night away, but certainly not the main character. Sleepless Night does however take place the majority of its runtime in one setting over the period of a night. A massive dance club in the heart of Paris is the primary setting. The story goes late into the night and features a cop, who’s essentially locked in, racing through the club for hours on end to right his wrong.

Sleepless Night is unrelenting. Apart from the opening 5 minutes, the film takes place in one day and apart from the opening 15 minutes and the final 10, the entire film takes place at this night club. But most of these minutes are in first gear as the movie almost never lets up the pace. Sleepless Night was featured as a part of TIFF’s Midnight Madness program, a good choice if you ask me. Full of twists and turns, downright cruel drug dealers and tons of crazy fights, it doesn’t disappoint in the action department.

The film starts out in the early morning on a Paris street. Two masked men carrying automatic weapons hold up a car with two other men. They are carrying a very big black bag that the weapon wielding men want. A shootout ensues and the masked men get away with the bag. We find out these robbers are actually a couple of cops. The bag they stole is full of drugs. Lots of drugs.

One of the cops is our hero, Vincent. I use the term hero loosely because he’s a dirty cop. At the same time, you can’t help but root for him. The actor (Tomer Sisley) portraying him has an innocent face and he’s fairly likeable. Vincent gets a call one day from a man who claims to have his son and wants his drugs back. When he gets his drugs, Vincent can have his son. He is told to bring the drugs to his nightclub.

I read a review that said the nightclub was as big as a Wal-Mart. That description is not far off. This club is huge. A dance floor that features hundreds of people dancing and multiple levels of bars, casinos and hidden rooms where drug deals and other evil deeds are done.

Vincent brings the bag of drugs to the club but hides it in the ceiling above a bathroom stall. What complicates everything is when two agents investigating the early morning shootout move the bag out of the bathroom requiring Vincent to dart through the club for his son’s life. Vincent finds himself conning this guy, promising things to another and killing others.He must find the bag of drugs to get his son out alive. This is going to be a very long night for Vincent.

The movie is very well done. The acting is convincing and the directing is razor sharp. My issue is with some of the editing choices. I know I said the film is well paced and at times, relentless. But there are a few instances, and mind you there are only a few, that completely stop the movie’s pace dead in its tracks. Each of these pauses are only a minute or two at length but most of them kill the intensity completely. This bothered me quite a bit. With the film’s runtime around only 100 minutes, these pauses even made the film seem longer than it really needed to be.

Another issue I have with this movie is its believability. I know it’s only a movie and sometimes we are required to just ‘go along with it’, but I find it really hard to believe that in a club with hundreds, possibly thousands of people that not one single person called the police. Multiple shootings, multiple brawls and no one feels the need to call for help. Utterly ridiculous.

All the negative things aside, I’d have to say Sleepless Night was above all, a fun experience. It’s unique in that it spends most of its time in one location and uses its time, for the most part, very well. It’s just hard to believe that our hero can run through this club for hours on end bumping into the same people in the same locations, sometimes covered in blood and no one does or says anything about it. I won’t be giving Sleepless Night a great rating and demand everyone see it, but it certainly isn’t a waste of your time if you choose to see it.

We first witness Sonia Bechis (Kseniya Rappoport) at work as a chambermaid cleaning a hotel room of a young woman. She announces to the person she will start first on the bathroom. It is only a few minutes later that Sonia hears a thud from the other room. Upon checking out the noise, she discovers that the woman has jumped to her death out the window.

Sonia seeks companionship through the means of speed dating. Her luck does not seem to be going her way, she has not found an interesting guy yet and she is on her last round. That is when she meets Guido (Filippo Timi), a seemingly polite gentleman who you can tell is not like the others. Unfortunately, time runs out before they really get a chance to talk much.

But coincidence takes over when the two run into each other as they are leaving. Guido is very forward with her by inviting her over to his place but she must turn it down as she works early tomorrow. After glancing at his watch, he notices it is 23:23, a double hour from which the title of the film comes from. He explains a double hour is much like a shooting star, you are granted a wish on it. The wish must have come true because it then cuts to the two of them having sex together.

As a romantic relationship forms we start to find out more about Guido. Like the fact he is an ex-cop. However, when asked what happened that that career he is short and vague by replying, “Nothing.” Perhaps he has something to hide? Or maybe the somewhat recent death of his wife has something to do with it?

Guido ends up taking Sonia to the large estate he currently looks after as a watchman/security guard. Behind the property is a vast forest in which he takes her out on a walk to. On their hike together he seems very paranoid and suspicious, he is constantly looking around him. As the two find a place to rest, they lean in to kiss when a man in a ski mask suddenly appears with a gun.

The two get tied up as a small gang steal artwork and other expensive valuables from the house. Once the criminals have everything they wanted, one of them goes back in to make sexual advances toward Sonia. That is when Guido lunges at the man with the gun but ends up getting shot and killed.

Just as the tagline of the movie states, “Nothing is what it seems”, the film weaves you back and forth between what happens and what you think happens. Describing any details beyond this point would be a disservice. It is precisely what makes this film so entertaining.

Both characters find happiness when together, a much needed break from depression that filled their lives before. Both characters have a sketchy past and damaged souls, a perfect match for each other. They are both as innocent looking as they are passionate.

Both the leads, Rappoport and Timi, were tremendous in their roles. You are led to believe that they both have something to hide, the actors did a great job of selling it. Their chemistry together seemed to be exactly what the director was going for, a strong connection but something is slightly off. Rappoport and Timi were rewarded with Best Actress and Best Actor awards respectfully at the Venice Film Festival in 2009.

The Double Hour is filled with enough twists that a few holes arise but not enough for it to ruin the point of the film. Director Giuseppe Capotondi mixes in a little bit of everything in the film, a romance, crime mystery, and even some haunting scenes. By far the neatest part of the film happens 1 hour 1 minute in when a huge twist is shown, right on a double hour. An amazing and thoughtful touch.

The film opens with Krister (Thomas Hedengran) attending the funeral for his wife Eva (Tintin Anderzon) who died in a car accident. Through flashbacks it is gradually revealed that Krister cheated on Eva (with the titular character), moved out but eventually reconciled with his wife after she became unexpectedly pregnant. During Krister and Eva’s first night out away from their newborn child, Krister’s mistress gets revenge by causing a car accident that kills Eva before taking her own life. Now the only family in Krister’s life is his child and older daughter Sandra (Sandra Larsson), a teenager who despises him for cheating on her mother.

Krister starts to have nightmares every night where he wakes up to find himself pinned down by the vengeful spirit of Marianne. Krister tries to talk to a therapist (Peter Stormare with a hilariously awful looking dyed beard) but is told that it’s only his brain coming up with the most unoriginal symbolism for his crushing guilt. Sandra’s boyfriend Stiff (Dylan Johansson) believes that Krister is the victim of the Mare, a demon from Swedish folklore who sits on men while they sleep and sucks the life out of them. As the attacks become worse, Krister’s mental state begins to fall apart as fast as his personal life.

Filip Tegstedt, who wrote the script and is making his directorial debut, clearly loves to take his time. Marianne is a slow burner for the most part, taking its time to develop its characters along with establishing a foreboding atmosphere. Unfortunately this translates into a lot of scenes and montages played in slow motion while rock music from an elevator plays over it.

As a drama, Marianne rarely rings true. While Hedengran does a good job making Krister sympathetic despite his unlikable actions, the rest of the cast has a bigger range in quality. There’s a wash-rinse-repeat quality to seeing Krister act like a fool and cause an argument with Sandra that reminded me of after school specials or TV movies more than anything. Major plot developments happen but they come across as so carefree that they’re more or less forgotten until a character brings it up again. Even though the majority of Marianne is spent on the dramatic elements of the story, very little comes out of it.

As a horror film, little can be said about Marianne. The nightmare sequences were somewhat effective (the use of the baby monitor’s crackling static to signify the ghost’s arrival was a nice but derivative touch) but they lacked any real impact. The inevitable ‘big scare’ that came at the climax of the movie felt more like a whimper than a bang. Eventually the hauntings feel so isolated from the rest of the film that they feel like they’re from a different movie entirely.

I’m sure that Marianne might have fared better if the writing wasn’t so shoddy. The two storylines that dominate the film are both good on their own, but both are executed poorly and feel like two completely different films competing with each other by the end of the movie. While Tegstedt has a lot of ambition, it is rarely realized in Marianne.

Oddly enough, I had a similar reaction to the film. Now, the directing duo that made the unbelievably grotesque (and atmospherically perfect) Inside, comes Livide. Not as bloody (but equal in atmosphere and mood), Livide is a film that in my eyes really doesn’t live up to the potential it starts out with.

Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, Livide has scenes of fantastic dread and a very bad mean streak. But what else do you expect from the guys who previously made a film about a woman eight months pregnant being terrorized by a sadistic killer? The killings are brutal. The tension gets ratcheted up to the perfect amount. The lighting and mood create an almost dreamlike (or maybe nightmarish is a better suited adjective) state. Making you feel like what is happening can’t possibly be. But boy is it ever.

Lucie (Chloé Coulloud) is the main character of the film. She has just been hired as a caretaker. On her first day she is picked up by an older woman, who is her new boss. Lucie has two different colored eyes, which may or may not be relevant later on in the movie. I won’t spoil the fun.

Lucie’s first day involves meeting several of the clients she is going to be helping throughout her day. Changing sheets and diapers, giving medicine and shots are all among her daily routines. Her final client is a very elderly lady who resides by herself in an old mansion (one of those great mansions that could only exist in a horror film). Old, full of dust and relics, it looks like it hasn’t been inhabited in decades.

I guess resides is the wrong word, she more or less lays in a bed in a coma all day. Lucie is there to only give her a blood transfusion. This confuses Lucie and once one thinks about it, yes, very odd that a woman in a coma would need a blood transfusion on a daily basis.

Lucie and her boss discuss the old lady. Her family, she has almost none. Her wealth, hidden away somewhere in the house Lucie is told. But where could it be? Maybe the key around the old lady’s neck is the answer.

Later that night Lucie meets up with her boyfriend at a local bar. She tells him about the supposed hidden treasure in the mansion. The two of them team up with another friend of theirs and decide (against their much better judgment) to break into the mansion while the woman sleeps and plunder it of its wealth.

The trio arrives at the mansion in the middle of the night when it is dark and eerie. Where shadows move and they say things like, “Who goes there?” or “Come out so I can see you!” And obviously it would be during the night, because during the day it wouldn’t be scary enough. Soon the three friends are fighting for their lives against a terrible force. Livide then gets quite good in parts and coincidentally very perplexing in others.

What the movie does succeed at is being down right creepy at times. The production design is top notch. This is a house I wouldn’t want to be caught in during the day, let alone at night. As I mentioned previously, it’s full of dust and decay. Peeled wallpaper limps off the wall. Old pictures of past family members adorn the mantle above the fireplace. Old furniture sits in the middle of rooms covered with sheets.

One of the best set pieces is a child’s room on one of the upper levels of the house. It contains a child’s tea party table with dolls that feature animal heads instead of that of a human’s. Foxes, toads, rabbits all feature at this table. Sipping their tea and staring off into space, the freaky dolls seem to move at their own free will at convenient moments to scare the audience. These scenes are some of the best moments of the film.

The near perfect production design coupled with the cinematography make the movie’s mood utterly disturbing. The film’s lighting at times creates a living nightmare of color. Some rooms are lit up with all red while others favor a bold bright green. One recalls the Italian horror masterpiece by Dario Argento, Suspiria as an inspiration. With the director’s love of giallo films plus the addition of the ballet subplot, it’s quite obvious the film was inspired by Argento’s masterwork.

The movie is also diabolic in its use of violence. Insanely brutal at times as one person gets their forehead bitten into (how often does that happen?), while another gets the top of their head ripped from apart from their jaw. To quote Roger Ebert, “I hate it when that happens”. Tons of blood is featured in Livid. Horror fans will eat it up.

However, while everything seems to be working for the better, Livide gets bogged down with too many negative aspects. One of my least favorite things about going to the movies is when a film explains more than it really needs to. I cannot stand it when this happens. The film version of Silent Hill a few years ago is a huge violator of this. Livide simply tries to explain too much back story for us to care about what is really happening at the present moment.

The film should’ve just gone with creating a living nightmare and an atmosphere of confusion for its characters rather than telling a lame back story about a cruel ballet teacher. When films do this it feels like the filmmakers are trying to fill a void and eat up time to reach 90 minutes. I wish a movie would come out that would just aim to make the audience feel as uncomfortable as possible without trying to explain too much.

Another spot Livide lost me in was its lack of focus. It seems like the film doesn’t know what genre it wants to be in. Maybe I’m just nitpicking too much. I don’t know. One part of the movie is a great haunted house film and the other is a great fresh new take on the vampire genre. In the end it feels like the film’s two genres are competing with each other rather than coexisting. This along with a very routine ending killed my love for the film.

I was so happy at the chance to finally see this movie (I actually strongly considered seeing it at TIFF last year), but ultimately I felt let down in the end. Too much explaining and not enough haunting for my blood, Livide is oh so close and yet, so far away. Like the house in the film, enter at your own risk.

Alex (Johannes Krisch) works as a bouncer at a brothel where his girlfriend Tamara (Irina Potapenko) works as a prostitute. They must keep their relationship a secret from their bosses as they want her to move up on the prostitution ladder but she wants out. That is when Alex comes up with what he considers a foolproof scheme.

He plots out a bank heist to assist the couple financially for a proper escape. He repeats the fact that nothing can go wrong. Tamara is naturally skeptical as it sounds way more dangerous than Alex is making it seem. Alex tries to explain that it is an in and out operation. The gun he plans on using to hold up the bank will not even be loaded, so no one gets hurt.

She waits in the getaway car as he goes into the bank to execute his plan. Everything is going exactly as planned, he points the gun at the banker and she stuffs his backpack full of cash. The other people in the bank that come into view calmly obey his request to get on the floor.

Tamara’s hesitation to believe a flawless robbery is possible proves to be valid. As she is waiting for Alex to return from the bank a policeman knocks on the car window. He explains to her that they are parked in a loading zone. It is at this moment that Alex is returning to the car. He was able to get the policeman on the ground while they drive off but as they do the policeman was able to fire off a few shots.

Turns out that one of the shots fired remarkably hits and kills Tamara. Caught off guard by the whole situation is Alex. So he goes to hide out on his grandfather’s farm which is part of a small town outside the city. It just so happens to also be the same town that the policeman is from.

Susanne (Ursula Strauss) is the wife of the policeman who is practically neighbors to Alex’s grandfather. Because the town is so small it does not take long for Alex to find out this information. Susanne comes to over to visit which makes things interesting.

Enough though Alex is very stand-offish to Susanne, she is turned on by him. Perhaps it is due to the sexual problems between her and her husband. She invites Alex over when her husband is gone to take part in intercourse. Alex has a few angles he could use this opportunity for, the suspense builds up as he decides how to proceed.

The literal English translation of revanche is “revenge” yet there is not an abundance of revenge in the film. Well at least not as elaborate as the titles found in the “Vengeance Trilogy” by Park Chan-Wook. But the translation has a double meaning and the other one is, “a second chance”, which the film leans more toward. It aptly shows how opportunities can arise from tragedy.

The film received a nomination for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2009 as Austria’s official submission. The cast was wonderfully selected and each seemed to be made for their role, looks and all. The cinematography was precise and well executed using techniques to imply foreshadowing through visuals.

Revanche was much more character driven than it was concerned with plot. Even though there is technically not always a lot happening on the screen, due to the excellent tension the film contains you find yourself immersed in it. That being said, there may be just one too many scenes of Alex chopping up wood pieces on the farm.

I could not help but wonder if the character chose to take a slightly different path towards the end the film could have been slightly more appealing. I suppose the point of the film though was to keep it more open ended. The beauty part of doing this is it makes you thinking long after the credits roll. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is one of those films that you will appreciate more in time than you do immediately after watching it.

We are introduced to the entire family at the beginning of the film. Standing over their mother and father’s grave are sisters Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) and Sole (Lola Dueñas). They are trying to keep the grave clean of flying debris on a day that is about as windy as the day their parents died from the strong wind blowing fire that led to their death.

The two sisters and Raimunda’s daughter Paula (Yohana Cobo) leave the cemetery to go visit Aunt Paula (kind of confusing, I know). Aunt Paula can barely see or walk so it is to their surprise when they see an exercise bike in her bathroom. How could see use it if she can hardly walk? As they leave there are handmade deserts she prepared for them. But how could she bake if she can hardly see?

These are questions that Pedro side steps for the first act of the film. They are hinted at but not revealed until later. Although, the answer to this is not necessarily a spoiler, it is better to let Pedro do the answering.

Raimunda is headed home from her shift from the airport when she is greeted by Paula. This is not a regular occurrence so she knows that something is wrong but the real give-away is the blank face Paula has on her face. She cannot form the words to construct a sentence but when she is does it is haunting.

She explains to her mom that her drunken father came on to her in the kitchen. He recites that he is not the father in order to somehow make it justifiable to have sex with her. She pleads with him to stop but when he does not she pulls out a knife and ends up stabbing him to death.

As if Raimunda does not have enough to deal with she receives a phone call about another death that is close to her. Sole informs her that their Aunt Paula has passed away. She can barely focus on the news as the dead man on the floor of her kitchen remains her top priority.

You would assume that the film is leading you down the path of a murder-mystery-cover up but that tangent fades about as quickly as it begins. Instead Volver splits into a few directions, Raimunda successfully runs a restaurant but without permission. Sole gets help with her illegal hair salon business from a person you would least expect. The common centerpiece is the interactions amongst the family members.

Pedro loves to use the color of red, the color was all over Broken Embraces and Volver was no exception. From purses, to buses, clothing, tomatoes, furniture, and vehicles, the red hue is everywhere. The reasoning here is obvious, the red symbolizes blood and passion. It is becoming a trademark of Pedro’s.

Penelope Cruz was nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Raimunda. However, the entire cast did so well that the female ensemble shared the Best Actress award at Cannes. Also at Cannes, the film itself was nominated for the Palme d’Or.

Volver is ultimately a melodrama about how death can be dealt with by forgiveness and acceptance. The biggest issue with this film for me was not that it was not as hard hitting as his other work but that it went off on some unneeded tangents. It may not be the most solid Almodóvar script but that does not mean the film is not worth a watch.

The movie opens with its only moment of character development. Rama (Iko Uwais) wakes up, goes through his morning routine and says goodbye to his pregnant wife and father before joining a SWAT team on a mission to take down the drug lord Tama (Ray Sahetapy). What makes the mission complicated is that Tama resides on the 15th floor of an apartment building that serves as his base of operations.

Unsurprisingly, things go to hell immediately and soon Tama is offering everyone in the apartment free rent for life if they dispose of any police in the building. Soon enough Rama and several other members of the SWAT teams are the only good guys left alive. Realizing the only way to get out alive is through Tama, fight and butcher their way to the top.

What The Raid does best is set up the stakes in the film early on. While some people might compare this to Ong-Bak or other popular Asian imports from the last decade or so, it’s clear that Gareth Evans is a fan of low budget 1970s thrillers like Assault on Precinct 13. The Raid is more of a pure survival tale than a flashy action movie, which keeps the pacing relentless and the action exciting throughout its runtime.

Of course it would be useless to review The Raid without mentioning the jaw-dropping action sequences. The movie starts with gunfights (most likely a nod towards John Woo’s films) before getting rid of them for close combat weapons until its nothing but flying fists and feet by the third act. Evans keeps his camera movements and style as simple as possible. He goes against the current status quo by putting his focus on the choreography instead of the camera itself. Considering the quality of most recent action films it comes as a revelation to see someone shooting fight scenes in a coherent manner.

There are no punches pulled throughout the film either. This is a survival story, and it shows through each fight sequence. Every single hit is done with the intent to seriously harm or kill someone, and there are plenty of moments that got howls from the audience I saw it with. This is a hard R action movie, and one of the more brutal action films to come along in a while.

Despite the real lack of substance when it comes to story or character development, there are no complaints when it comes to the action. These are some of the best action sequences and fights I’ve seen in a long time. Gareth Evans keeps things brisk and varied enough to not make the action feel dull or monotonous for a minute, and uses his cast’s fighting skills to their full potential. While it’s true that there isn’t more to The Raid other than its fighting, when the fighting is this good I don’t see a reason to complain.

Mateo Blanco (Lluis Homar) is a famous director who was fantasized being another person. He created an alter ego of Henry Caine when he became blind and transformed into being a writer. Caine relies on Judit (Blanca Portillo) and her son Diego (Tamar Novas) to take care of him at his home. Judit has always been by Caine’s side, even before he became blind as she was a production manager for him on his films.

At the very beginning we learn that a wealthy man named Ernesto Martel has died but have no clue as to who that person is. The film then jumps around from past and present to learn about Ernesto Martel and why his death is so important to Caine. During all the flashbacks we are introduced to a host of side characters and the different sides of Mateo Blanco/Henry Caine.

One day a young name named Ray X (Ruben Ochandiano) makes an appointment to talk to Caine about making a screenplay for him. Ray X insists that Caine should do the screenplay but Caine was not sold on the story and tells him that he is not the right person to write it. After he leaves he has Diego look at old production photos because he has a hunch that he has met Ray X before. Sure enough, there is a photo of the two together on a set.

Back when Caine went by Mateo Blanco, he was beginning his work on what would be his final film Girls and Suitcases. This is when he was introduced to Ernesto’s mistress, Lena (Penelope Cruz). Lena has been living with the wealthy Ernesto Martel for the past two years but wanted to get back into the working environment. Mateo fell in love with Lena at first sight.

Martel is nervous that he is losing Lena so he hires his son to follow Lena around on the set of the film. Armored with a video camera himself, the son is follows orders by filming Lena becoming an actress. Although the reason for this is so that Martel can keep an eye on Lena, the son makes a documentary out of it.

His suspicions turned out to be accurate as Lena falls for Mateo. The footage his son captured of the two proved that. Being that Martel is the producer of the film, makes the whole situation very messy. Martel’s passion for Lena does not go unnoticed.

Almodovar deliberately uses the color red virtually everywhere throughout the film. It is found in obvious places such as lipstick but also in more carefully selected places such as the paintings, furniture and a lot of the clothing. The liberal use of the color red is no doubt in effort to show how much love and passion all the characters possess.

I have started backwards in viewing Pedro Almodovar’s work, the first film I saw of his was his most recent film The Skin I Live In which ended up being my favorite film of 2011. He has incredible talent in filmmaking and storytelling that makes it easy to see why he is one of the most acclaimed Spanish directors of all time. He is becoming one of my favorite foreign directors. I eagerly wait to see Vovler, Bad Education and Talk To Her which are the next three films in the reverse order I am viewing them in.

The first 90 minutes of Broken Embraces was brilliant, character development heavy with a great thriller plotline. In the last 30 minutes of the film the story arc was mostly completed thus the rushed ending failed to be climatic. It was a little disappointing that the last part of the film did not finish as strong as it began. The film still was impressive to watch thanks to Almodovar’s magnificent style.