Penelope Cruz – an ode to.. The Actress

Penelope Cruz is an extremely talented and beautiful actress. I think I am fairly safe in saying this due to the fact that one of the world’s best directors, Pedro Almodovar, keeps a very close working relationship with her. She is also one of the most beautiful women living today, and I think it is this fact, that is one reason sometimes actors/actresses get over looked for there talent. She is quoted as saying, “The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks, and then to try to become a serious actress. No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman”. Penelope has definitely become a serious actress, continually choosing fabulous characters to play. I love that she does as many movies, if not more, in her native tongue and hasn’t sold out to Hollywood. She is also married to one of the coolest guys around, Javier Bardem.

Here are her 5 best. Three of which are Pedro Almodóvar films. It is so hard to pick a favourite from these but I will have to say ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER followed very closely by VOLVER.

ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar. A Greek saying states that only women who have washed their eyes with tears can see clearly. This saying does not hold true for Manuela. The night a car ran over her son Esteban, Manuela cried until her eyes ran completely dry. Far from seeing clearly, the present and the future become mixed up in darkness. She begins looking for his father who has become a transvestite.

BLOW

In the turbulence of the 1970s, the international drug trade underwent a fast, violent and lucrative revolution – and one ordinary American was at its center. But in just a few short years, George Jung (Johnny Depp), a high-school football star single handedly became the world’s premiere importer of cocaine from Colombia’s Medellin cartel, changing the course of an entire generation. “Blow” is a high-velocity look at George Jung’s spectacular rise and fall.

VOLVER

Directed by Pedro Almodóvar Three generations of women survive the east wind, fire, insanity, superstition and even death by means of goodness, lies and boundless vitality. They are Raimunda (Penelope Cruz), who is married to an unemployed labourer and has a teenage daughter; Sole, her sister, who makes a living as a hairdresser; and the mother of both, who died in a fire along with her husband. This character appears first to her sister and then to Sole, although the people with whom she has some unresolved matters are Raimunda and her neighbor in the village, Agustina.

VICKY, CHRISTINA, BARCELONA

Directed by Woody Allen Vicky and Cristina, these two young Americans spend a summer in Spain and meet a flamboyant artist and his beautiful but insane ex-wife. Vicky is straight-laced and about to be married. Cristina is a sexually adventurous free spirit. When they all become amorously entangled, both comedic and harrowing results ensue.

BROKEN EMBRACES

Directed byPedro Almodóvar. The story of Mateo, Lena, Judit and Ernesto Martel is a story of “amour fou”, dominated by fatality, jealously, the abuse of power, treachery and a guilt complex. A moving and terrible story, the most expressive image of which is the photo of two lovers embracing, torn into a thousand pieces.BROKEN EMBRACES

Others that a absolutely worth a mention are.

Open Your Eyes 1997)

Vanilla Sky (remake of Open Your Eyes) (2001)

Nine 2009)

Carne trémula (1997)