Returning

That is the translation of the title of the movie Volver, which I saw a week and a half ago. ("Volver" means "to return," but it is being used as a gerund just as it would be if one were starting a sentence with it.

The movie, starring Penelope Cruz (as Raimunda) and people of whom I've never heard, was in Spanish. It has been receiving a lot of hype, though I found it to be merely pretty good. Knowing some Spanish (even with the large gaps I currently have in my knowledge) was helpful in picking up some of the nuances in the conversation. The literal point of all the dialogue was conveyed accurately in each case, but some of the translations were a little weird and connotations were adjusted on occasion.

In the movie, the mother of Raimunda and her sister Soledad (which I thought during the movie meant "sunshine" but which actually means "solitude," which makes a lot more sense for that character) returns even though she apparently died. Occasional funny moments ensue, but IMDB's listing of this flick as a comedy first and a drama second is extremely misleading.

Anyway, the film is decent, but it's not great and I definitely don't think it deserves the hype it has received. Interestingly, this film was among the choices I had on my flight to England for my interview at Oxford, so this apparently had already been released in (presumably) Europe a while before then (not that that's a surprise).

With this entry, I have caught up with my movie reviews for now (though I never reviewed the Reduced Shakespeare Company performance I saw a couple months ago). That will change very soon, as I'll definitely be seeing Curse of the Golden Flower this week and may also try to catch Charlotte's Web, depending on whether I get antsy. (Basically, if I get antsy and can't find others with whom to hang out, I'll probably go and watch that, too. Golden Flower is definitely planned as a group outing.)