MovieChat Forums > Los abrazos rotos (2010) Discussion > an undeveloped melodrama with good chara...

an undeveloped melodrama with good characters

posted 15 years ago by paul_is_taul
3 replies | jump to latest

a lot of times when i'm watching a movie I can sense that the movie has got me. i feel like it's pulling me in. in a great movie i'm there the whole time, a bad movie never gets me once. this movie had me really invested most of the time but somewhere towards the end it completely lost me. i liked mateo's character, i liked diego, i liked lena, i liked the different relationships that were being explored. it felt like melodrama, but fun. plus it was beautiful to look at.

towards the end all the investment fell flat and i was left with nothing but the melodrama. it must have been the scene where judit overacts horribly and in one of the best examples of melodramatic soap opera schlock babbles on exasperatingly explaining the "crazy plot twist" while she chugs a gin and tonic. so bad. and guess what diego? he's your dad! no way he's my dad? crazy! i have to finish "girls and suitcases" cue 10 minutes of the end of girls and suitcases...great movie dad, it's hilarious! i'm peeing my pants its sooooo funny! these girls found some cocaine! oh, and ernesto jr. didn't cause the crash! i think he still wants to erase his dad's legacy though...but lets finish this awesome movie about the cocaine suitcases which is a hilarious laugh riot by the way! end of movie. annnnnd....i'm completely baffled by the mediocrity of this movie.

seriously ridiculous ending. and please don't attack me for being a philistine that doesn't get almodovar. i get it.

[–] comeonfeet 15 years ago

That pretty much sums it up for me, but it still didn't feel like a let down at the end. It progressively kept getting cheesier and cheesier until I had to laugh out loud when she announced that Mateo was the father.
It reminded me of Stolen Kisses, which I love for the same reason, you can watch it and care about the characters and the story, but not take it too seriously.

[–] paul_is_taul 15 years ago

I like stolen kisses more then this, but i can see your point. i love the characters and its fun to be in their world for a little while. but stolen kisses gets by because i am so invested in the life and adventures of antoine doinel, i can forgive the cheesiness of the movie. and its much tidier and less melodramatic. its funnier. broken embraces just got straight up silly at the end, and pointless.

[–] sunznc 15 years ago

I agree with you.
I'm the same way, I can feel if a movie is going to grab me or turn me off and this did not grab me.
It seems muddled and unclear-especially in the beginning.
Also, seeing all the familiar faces was distracting to me. I kept thinking "that actor is from....she's from.......he's from....." and kept identifying all the films I'd seem them from before.
He should have used new actors for this.
And it did all fall flat. A disappointment and I usually love his films. I've seen all but one.