Parallel Mothers

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Parallel Mothers follows Penélope Cruz’s Janis as she befriends a young woman (Milena Smit’s Ana) in the hours before they’re both scheduled to give birth – with the narrative detailing the complications that ensue in the months and years after that fateful meeting. Filmmaker Almodóvar, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a typically erratic melodrama that often feels much, much longer than necessary, with the padded-out running time paving the way for an exceedingly (and sometimes excessively) deliberate pace that prevents the viewer from wholeheartedly embracing the narrative. It’s clear, then, that Parallel Mothers benefits from Cruz’s top-notch work and an ongoing emphasis on admittedly spellbinding plot twists and surprises, and there’s little doubt, ultimately, that the latter proves effective at buoying the viewer’s interest and infusing the proceedings with a soapy, impossible-to-resist feel (ie some of this stuff is just so impressively salacious and trashy). The slow-as-molasses execution does, however, mute the impact of certain key interludes, while Almodóvar’s late-in-the-game decision to focus on the characters’ Spanish Civil War-focused exploits is jarring at best and entirely misguided at worst – which does, in the final analysis, cement Parallel Mothers‘ place as an egregiously oddball endeavor that should’ve topped out at 90 minutes.

**1/2 out of ****