Volver

As emotionally devastating as it is visually stunning.

Volver disappoints.

Beautiful performances, a refreshing story, and spot-on comedic timing make this a wonderful movie.

It's up to charm to twinkle our attention away from the loose threads and daytime TV plotting.

Even if Volver sounds too high-concept for you, know that Almodóvar is smart enough not to rest on laughs alone, extending his premise to dark, though occasionally tidy psychological territory.

The film is realistic, yet Almodóvar's touch of the absurd and the madcap infiltrate everything that occurs while his candy-colored visual palette lends a brightness to what in other hands might have taken the form of a sordid tale.

Like most Almodóvar films, external beauty and color are abundant in Volver.

Pedro Almodovar is in a playful mood here, yet there’s no mistaking the seriousness with which he takes the movie’s theme of empowerment through sisterhood.

Beautifully shot, structured, and acted, Almodovar's film sees the past repeat itself, the dead come back to life, and the painfully concealed return to the fore.

It's a playful soap-opera, mad with colour and crazy twists. It's a ghost story that won't give you the chills. And most importantly of all, it's yet another fine movie from Spanish master Pedro Almodovar.