Morten_5 Almodóvar is famous for repeatedly and warm-heartedly depicting women, men, transgenders and homosexuals without caring much about taboos.In "All About My Mother," he does this again, with well-written dialogues, portraying people with universal problems of love, loss, sickness and death. Like few other male writers and directors, he seems able to grasp and convey the sentiments and situations of persons that, in different ways, live in the shadow of the patriarchy.

Rickting After her 17 year old son is killed in a truly heart-string shattering moment, Manuela goes to Barcelona to find the father of her son but but soon gets wrapped up in further drama. All About My Mother, with its meticulously constructed thematic material, unique visuals and focus on women, is typical Pedro Almodovar material. AAMM is not an easy watch and at times really feels like an emotional gauntlet. For me, this felt more familiar than both Talk to Her and The Skin I Live in and this can be a bit slow at times. Unlike the other 2 Almodovar films I've seen this one's thematic purpose isn't always clear. This is often regarded as Almodovar's masterpiece and although I disagree with that, it certainly is a hugely striking film. It's a meticulously crafted and emotionally powerful piece of art with complex themes and complex characters at every turn, backed up with superb acting and a masterful auteur at the top of his game. It is perhaps a flawed masterpiece. It's got its problems, but it's a movie which nearly made me cry twice and a very intelligent piece of writing. This kind of film is what drama should be. 8/10

Prismark10 This would be called a campy Southern Gothic if it was made in America and set in the deep south.Pedro Almodovar has a made a film that is in a way a life affirming drama of friendship and loss. A woman grieving from the loss of her son, visiting another city to tell the father what has happened and making new friendships. There is a parallel story infused with high camp and acceptance of people in the margins of society. In this case transsexuals making a living though vice.Manuela (Cecilia Roth) is a nurse who works in the transplant unit at a Madrid hospital. She lives with her son Esteban,a budding writer who she has raised on her own. She has told him nothing about his father. For his 18th birthday they go to watch a performance of A Streetcar Named Desire starring a famous actress, Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes.) Some years earlier Manuela had appeared with Esteban's father in an amateur production of the play.Esteban foolishly runs towards the actress for an autograph and is in a car accident. Manuela goes to Barcelona to track down his father and tell him about the tragedy. It seems that Manuela had a complex relationship with him and it is suggested that he became a promiscuous transsexual.In Barcelona Manuela rescues a mutual friend who is getting beaten up, Agrado (Antonia San Juan) also a transsexual and a prostitute. They meet a young nun, Sister Rosa (Penelope Cruz) who works with the vulnerable in the streets of Barcelona who turns out to be pregnant. Manuela realises that the father is the same man who made her pregnant years earlier. The chaos of people clashing with each other continues as Manuela also meets up with the actress Huma whose touring production of Streetcar has reached Barcelona.The film is about Manuela coming to terms of her loss but she also gets a chance to take care of Sister Rosa whose pregnancy becomes more complex. Her new friendships invigorates her especially brassy Agrado who despite all he has gone through, the beatings, expensive surgery, being used for sex has a life affirming attitude. As the song says, I will survive.

Desertman84 All About My Mother is a Spanish film that was written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar.It stars Cecilia Roth,Marisa Paredes,Antonia San Juan, Penélope Cruz and Candela Peña.The movie deals primarily with femininity together with complex issues like complex issues such as AIDS, transvestitism, faith, and existentialism.All About My Mother is story of a woman and her circle of friends who find themselves suffering a variety of emotional crises. Manuela is a single mother who has raised her son, Esteban, to adulthood on her own and has come to emotionally depend on him. One night, Manuela and Esteban take in a production of A Streetcar Named Desire; after the show, Esteban is struck and killed by a passing motorist as he dashes into the street to get an autograph from Huma Rojo, who played Blanche. Emotionally devastated, Manuela relocates to Barcelona in hopes of finding her ex-husband, who is now working as a female impersonator. Manuela becomes reacquainted with old friend La Agrado, a transsexual, and is introduced to Sister Rosa, a good-hearted nun who has to contend with her considerably more cynical mother. While looking for work, Manuela becomes acquainted with Huma Rojo. Huma, on the other hand, has troubles of her own, most involving her drug-addicted significant other, Nina. All About My Mother displays Almodóvar's trademark visual style and a unusually strong sense of character-driven drama that mixes with themes and characters from Streetcar Named Desire And All About Eve.It was a wonderful and poignant story of love, loss and compassion centered on women.Also,it was also a intelligent sensibility with wicked sense of humor.The acting was also brilliant of all the cast involved.And most of all,the direction of Almodóvar makes this film a masterpiece Spanish cinema classic.