Reel Critics

* EDITOR’S NOTE: The Reel Critics column features movie critiques written

by community members serving on our panel.

‘All About My Mother’ is Cannes winner

Spain’s Pedro Almodovar won Best Director at Cannes this year for “All

About My Mother,” an amazing film about a mother’s search for direction

and meaning after the death of her teenage son.

This is certainly Almodovar’s most mature work. Fortunately, he has lost

neither his love for zany humor, nor his capacity to create powerful

unforgettable women characters.

Cecelia Roth plays the mother, Manuela, who leaves Madrid and returns to

Barcelona to find the father her son never knew. Indeed, the father never

knew he had a son. For reasons that don’t become clear until the end of

the film, she had reasons for not wanting father or son to know the other

existed.

In Madrid, Manuela had supported her son and herself working as a nurse.

In Barcelona, she had moved in very different circles. She contacts old

acquaintances who include several prostitutes, a pregnant nun, a

flamboyant actress, several transvestites and a drug dealer. In other

words, a typical Almodovar cast. And in true Almodovar fashion, he

celebrates the strength these women are capable of drawing from and

giving to each other. But Almodovar does more than honor these women. He

makes us love them, too.

Almodovar’s first international smash hit was the brilliant screwball

comedy “Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.” In “All About My

Mother,” we find women who can survive anything and still make us laugh.

* JUNE FENNER, a Costa Mesa resident in her late 50s, is vice president

of a work force training company.

‘Tumble’ into this obscure film

My husband and I aren’t known for being wild or crazy, but occasionally

when we’re feeling very adventurous, we go to see a movie neither one of

us knows anything about. Sometimes we get lucky and sometimes not. So

when we ventured out to see the new Fine Line feature film “Tumbleweeds,”

we had no idea how the evening would turn out. This time I’m happy to say

we got lucky -- “Tumbleweeds” is a wonderful movie.

The film centers on two main characters, a mother played by Janet McTeer

and her 12-year-old daughter, Ava, played by Kimberly J. Brown.

The movie opens with a fight between the mother (Mary Jo) and her current

husband. Ava is shown in her room frantically packing her bags. Mary Jo

soon comes for her and the two flee into the night, bound for

who-knows-where. Later, while studying maps in a coffee shop, Ava

convinces her mother to head west to a coastal town near San Diego. They

soon arrive and set up housekeeping in a motel. Shortly after arriving,

Mary Jo finds a job at an alarm company and Ava heads off to school, both

determined to find her own way.

Old habits die hard, and soon Mary Jo has a truck driver boyfriend and is

moving herself and Ava into his home. Jack (Gavin O’Connor) tries hard to

unite this group into a family unit, but the bond between mother and

daughter is strong and he finds himself feeling left out.

An inevitable fight breaks out, and Mary Jo again tries to flee with Ava.

This time, however, Ava decides she doesn’t want to leave and with the

help of one of her mother’s co-workers (Jay O. Sanders) convinces her

mother to stay and, for the first time really take charge of her life.

Beautifully written, directed and acted, “Tumbleweeds” is a delightful

movie to watch. McTeer’s portrayal of the whimsical, naive and loving

mother Mary Jo is truly a wonderful performance. Equally outstanding is

Kimberly J. Brown’s portrayal of the much wiser than her years Ava.

O’Connor (who is also the director) shows us the sensitive side of

trucker boyfriend Jack. Other noteworthy performances are the very

strange Michael J. Pollard as Mary Jo’s boss and finally Jay O. Sanders

as her sensitive co-worker and friend.

In this busy time of year, treat yourself to some adventure by seeing a

relatively unknown movie, “Tumbleweeds.” I don’t think you’ll be

disappointed.

* HEIDI BRESSLER, 35, is a hairstylist and Costa Mesa resident.