REEL CRITIC:’Volver’ a superb film that resonates

Pedro Almodovar is a top-tier writer and director making movies accessible to both cine-istas and, if they would show up, the average moviegoer. By that, I mean he makes the kind of features that get slotted into art houses and are snobbishly referred to as “films.”

Almodovar’s movies are art-house films only in the sense that they are very good (and happen to be in a foreign language). His latest, “Volver,” is a worthy addition to a slate of masterworks that already include “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” “Live Flesh” and “Talk to Her.”

Set in modern-day Spain, “Volver” is the tangled, telenovela-style story of Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) and her family and friends. Raimunda works two or three jobs, while her husband, who just lost his one job, sits around their small apartment drunk with dark desires.

After an exhausting day and night of toil, Raimunda returns home to find her daughter in tears and her husband dead. This sets in motion a cover-up that will eventually lead to the uncovering of darker secrets long buried in the family’s past.

You could say “Volver” is the story of mothers and their daughters and you would be right, but it is about so much more. It is also a thriller, a comedy, and a heart-rending story of these many women finding themselves within the worn-out bits of their lives.

Right now, no one is as adept at mixing such diverse elements as Almodovar. This is a funny, thrilling and emotional tale.

Almodovar manages to reveal the story’s many delights and surprises with a master’s fidelity. One major plot point is the reappearance of Raimunda and her sister Sole’s (Lola Duenas) mother, Irene (Carmen Maura). Irene’s re-appearance is quite the surprise in that she died with her husband in a fire a number of years earlier. Yet, this feels completely natural and organic to all that is going on in the movie. What at first seems to be a fantastic, as in otherworldly, plot twist is resolved in a rational manner that is, in itself, fantastic.

While Almodovar may be the brains behind “Volver,” its heart and soul is clearly Cruz in the lead role as Raimunda (or as is noted in a running joke, “Raimunda!”). If you only know Cruz from such Hollywood junk as “Sahara” or “Gothika,” then you are in for quite a surprise and need to immediately add “Belle Epoque” and “All About My Mother” (also directed by Almodovar) with Cruz to your Netflix queue.

She is riveting in a demanding role that calls on almost every emotion, not to mention a song. Cruz delivers a show-stopping tune that manages to sum up the movie’s emotional tone while keeping a snappy beat.

She has quite a set of pipes on her.

With “Volver,” Almodovar continues his great work as a stylist of superb “women’s movies” that should resonant beautifully for an audience of both men and women.