Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

kijii This film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2000. Its title is a variation on All About Eve, and the film seems to an homage to Bette Davis. It often refers to All About My Mother as well as A Streetcar Named Desire, perhaps an homage to Tennessee Williams, too.The film begins in Madrid where a single mother, nurse, and organ transplant coordinator, Manuela (Cecilia Roth), lives with her sensitive 17-year-old son, Esteban (Eloy Azorín), an aspiring young writer. It is his birthday and the two watch a Spanish-dubbed version of All About My Mother on TV. It is then that Esteban apparently changes the title of his memories (Notes) to All About My Mother. Since Esteban is an aspiring writer, Manuela gives him a copy of Truman Capote's Music of Chameleons as an early birthday present. Later, she takes him to see, A Streetcar Named Desire, which is currently running in Madrid. The play moves Manuela to tears; Esteban asks her why she is crying; she tells him that she and his father once worked in that same play together, with her playing Stella and his father playing Kowalski. Esteban demands to know more about his father; and she promises to tell him later that night, as a favor to him on his birthday. After the play, Estaban is killed in a car accident while trying to get an autograph of the play's leading actress, Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes). With his death, she is asked to donate HIS heart to an unknown recipient at the same transplant center where she works. Depressed and alone, Manuela decides to return to the Barcelona of her youth. There, she hopes to find Estaban's father and tell him all about his son. Upon arriving in Barcelona, she has a taxi take her to the red light district. There, she runs into Agrado (Antonia San Juan), an old friend of hers who used to live with her husband, Lola, before Lola robbed Agrado of all of her belongings to run off to Argentina. (Agarado and Lola were a transsexual couple; both were men who became women at the same time.) After seeing (and literally being rescued by) Manuela, Agarado decides to stop whoring and get a real job. To find new jobs, the two friends go to a Catholic Mission in the district. There, they meet Sister María Rosa (Penélope Cruz), a young nun who is about to be sent to El Salvador to replace a nun that was killed there by guerrilla fighters. Agrado and Manuela tell Rosa that they are willing take almost any job. But, knowing there are no jobs, Rosa tries to get her mother to hire Manuela as a cook (or perhaps, help care for her father who has Alzheimer's. Thinking Manuela came into the mission as a whore, Rosa's mother (Rosa Maria Sardà) tells them that she doesn't need any help. After the two leave Rosa's parents house, Rosa becomes sick. Manuela finds out that Rosa is about three months pregnant, and Manuela accompanies her to a doctor's office to get her first pregnancy checkup. There, Rosa asks for an AIDS blood test since she works in a high-risk job as a social worker. Two weeks later, she learns that she is HIV positive. When Manuela asks if she knows who the father is, Rosa tells her that it is Lola. Here, Manuela goes into a slight rage asking (telling) her that Lola has been shooting drugs for YEARS and asking her why she didn't know any better. With Rosa starting to 'show,' she has to leave the mission and stay with Manuela. A big part of Manuela's job is to keep as much of Rosa's pregnancy as simple as she can for Rosa's conventional mother. (After all, it is bad enough that her unwed daughter, a nun, became pregnant at all. Why tell her that the father is a HIV-positive transsexual drug addict, too?) One night, Manuela goes to see Streetcar Named Desire again in Barcelona (with the same cast that had played in Madrid the night Esteban was killed). When Manuela goes backstage to see Huma Rojo in person, she passes Huma's personal assistant, Nina (Candela Peña), running out the back door. Nina, who plays Stella in SND is also Huma's lover and personal assistant. But, she is totally unreliable since she is hooked on drugs. Huma needs to find Nina and asks Manuela to help find her. After they find her in the red light district, Nina and Huma drive off leaving Manuela behind. One night when Nina is bombed out of her mind, Manuela tells Huma that SHE can play the part of Stella and IS ABLE to pull it off in one performance, saving Huma's contract. When Nina returns, she accuses Manuela of sabotaging her career, just like Eve Harrington did in AAE. When Huma asks Manuela for an explanation, she breaks down and tells them about her husband, her son and how he died in the car accident while trying to get Huma's autograph in Madrid. When Huma asks Manuela to continue as her assistant, Manuela tells her that she must spend time caring for Rosa and suggests that Agrado take the job, which she does.Since I am getting close to the story's climax, I will stop the plot description here to avoid stepping into any possible SPOILERS. However, I will say that plot continues to play out like an extended soap opera on a vivid pastel stage. All issues are 'resolved' in one way or another. But, to me, the story is still very contrived and way too complex to be effective in delivering any sort of central message or emotion. One could almost read any message into the movie. Maybe that is why the film appeals to so many people: I mean, I'm just saying.....

X Boy Many themes are mixed in 'All About My mother' and the best part is that it does not care about them at all. Movie has it's own pace, the goal set in start is lost somewhere to pursue important ones. It also clarifies how does a loss changes the point of view and feelings for someone. Reshaping one's own life over one's sorrow. Although set in Spain, it have major south American influence on characters and their lifestyle as well as technical departments. Like most of Pedro Almodovar, woman oriented turns into genderless story of people who are dealing with grief, regret while struggling with life to go on. 'Innocence does know itself' would perfectly describe the movie.

jamariana All About My Mother is without a doubt Pedro Almodóvar's Citizen Kane. Talk to Her is incredible, but doesn't even begin to touch the sheer brilliance of the acting, writing, and emotional intensity that All About My Mother has. It was internationally, critically, and commercially appreciated and arguably the greatest film of 1999.Everything about the film is so exemplary that pointing out the film's strengths seems rather redundant. The film features all its stars at their best, their zeniths. The film was so phenomenal that I wouldn't have been surprised if Almodóvar retired after completing it. Thankfully, though, he didn't and has continued making top quality films with the same heart he had making All About My Mother.

arthera09 "All About My Mother" is an extremely well put together film that is an intriguing combination of art-house and Oscar bait. Almodorav has managed to put together a movie with a strong emotional core all the while making some interesting stylistic choices. At the heart of this movie is a story of a mother come to terms with the recent death of her only son on his 17th birthday. We see her give up her life in Madrid as a nurse and return to Barcelona where she had a more tumultuous life before moving to Madrid.The movie does an excellent job establishing the relationship between the mother and the son so when the son dies one can really feel the emotional impact. This is where we first see Cecilia Roth shine in the role of Manuela. We are really able to feel that this is a difficult time in her life and that when she decides to pick up and start her life over we understand. When she gets to Barcelona we are immediately thrust into the underworld and are introduced to Antonia San Juan who does an excellent playing Manuela's old friend a pre-op transvestite. She does come off as being a bit over the top at times, but is never out of character. There is a scene where Agrado was given the opportunity to put on a one women show she seems to drop the ball and a scene with a lot of potential was fairly tame. My biggest problem with the movie is the relationship between Penelope Cruz's character, Rosa, and Manuela. I was confused on how Rosa came to trust Manuela so completely so quickly. I do not think that Cruz did anything special with the character, which was unfortunate because she is such an important part of the story of Manuela. Since this movie is about Manuela as a mother and since she adopts Rosa's baby, when she dies in child birth, it is disappointing that there was not more of a connection between Roth and Cruz on screen. I did love some of the transition shots used and the one at the end with the train going from Barcelona and then back again was neat. These type of shots along with the soundtrack keeps this movie from being too boring and not just a rehashing of the same story. Also I like the almost meta aspect of the theater production of A Streetcar Name Desire. I enjoyed how it was interwoven into the story and how the actress and the story play itself became a part of Manuela's growth. Watching her take care of the principle actresses and Rosa allowed the viewer to never lose track of what made Manuela a mother. Overall this movie was extremely well put together, but there were weaknesses to be had. At times the movie lost focus on Manuela and focused a bit too much on Agrado or Rosa's stories. It was a fresh take on what normally would have been a boring and bland Oscar bait movie.