Prettier in Spanish

A few weeks ago, I kicked off the new Oscar season by seeing Emilio Estevez's Bobby. Not that Bobby will be winning any Oscars this March, but we're once again at the time of year when all the hopefuls come out. Every fall, it's like a 3-month-long film festival, and it's my favorite.

I also have a tradition of finding some way to see most of these movies for free. Some years, Moviepie has helped me out. Last year, Paula and Dmitri lent me their connections. This year, my boyfriend has a WGA card that we're going to work like Beyonce, whatever that means.

Last week, I continued ramping up the season with Volver, the new Pedro Almodóvar movie starring Penélope Cruz. Now, anyone who knows me or has read my blog for a long time knows that I hate Penélope Cruz. I've said all sorts of mean things about her, like that she's a grating mutant skank, or a talentless hedgehog face with no soul. Or even that she's an extra-terrestrial ambassador from the Planet Fugly.

And please do not get me started on Pedro Almodóvar. I only just started having mixed feelings about his work, thanks to Bad Education, which might possibly be my favorite movie of all time starring Gael García Bernal as a cross-dressing prostitute. But Live Flesh left me cold, and I was alone in the cold, dark room of people who thought Talk to Her was a jaw-dropping sham on par with Sideways.

So, I was just as surprised as anyone to find that my heart was open to Volver from the very first frame. There was nothing about the movie I didn't find amazing, and of course, everyone is talking about Penélope Cruz's return to Spanish film after spending four years in Hollywood as a superstar for no reason. "The next big thing," with no big thing at the end. Like Kate Bosworth, but with a really annoying accent.

Volver was so good, and Penélope Cruz was so good in it, I came away feeling guilty for what our country had done to her. We made her suck! We made her do Vanilla Sky, Gothika, and Sahara. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, dude. I found Penélope Cruz so beautiful and radiant in Volver, after all the fun I made of her stupid face. Are Spanish makeup artists just talented enough to camouflage her grotesque exterior, or was Cruz's Hollywood image enough to make her ugly to me?

Just my luck, this will be the one Almodóvar film with a backlash. Everyone will say, "Well, it wasn't as good as Talk to Her. That was his real masterpiece." But I will always remember the scene where Raimunda (Cruz) sees her mother again, and choke up just a little every time.