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By Charles WebbPedro Almodovars latest has the potential to lure viewers in with the promise of the unraveling of a romantic-tragic mystery. And yes, part of the movie is concerned - as many of Almodovars films are - with passion in its many forms and its unintended consequences. But the filmmakers true interest this time out appears to be in reconstruction and rebuilding the past. And it is in exploring this theme that the filmmaker elevates the movie to a masterwork.  <strong>Broken Embraces</strong> stars Lluís Homar as a blind screenwriteramed Harry Caine who was once a sighted directoramed Mateo Blanco.  Those of you guessing the change has something to do with a beautyamed Lena (Penélope Cruz) have been thankfully paying attention. In the present, Harry/Mateo is fairly content with his life, doted upon by his fiercely protective agent, Judit (Blanca Portillo) and her son Diego (Tamarovas). Then, three things happen that cause Harry to reluctantly look back 15 years into his past: the death of wealthy businessman Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez), a visit by a documentarian calling himself Ray X (Rubén Ochandiano), and an accident involving Diego. Together these events spur a reflection into Harrys romantic and filmmaking past.Beyond that We wont spoil any more of the films mysteries save to say that it has one of the most diabolical revenges taken upon a filmmaker that Ive had a chance to encounter. Where the film impresses is in its use and execution of the construction/reconstruction motif. Film images, documentary footage, torn photographs, and fractured pieces of thearrative eventually come together to complete an image of a broken past. An alternate (and altogether on-the-nose) title for the movie would have been <strong>Broken Vision</strong> given how frequently the theme plays out in the film. It all culminates in the final images with three characters "seeing" something in its totality for the first time as the movie image fades out leaving at first only their heads and finallyothing else. This isot our first exposure to Almodovar, but (with the exception of 2006s <strong>Volver</strong>) its the first time Ive really critically assessed his work as a viewer. Its our shame that We didnt dig deeper in the earlier viewings of his other films but its our pleasure to be able to go back and revisit them with a more critical eye.     <strong>Charles Webb is a jack of all trades: comics scripter, screenwriter, and game designer living inYC.</strong>
Letsdispense with the elephant in the room as soon as possible -Elbowroom is a South Korean drama featuring a young female leadplaying a character with cerebral palsy. Thereso ignoring the barin this regard has been set phenomenally high by Lee Chang-DongsOasis (2002), with a stunning performance from Moon So-RWe thatettedher the Marcello MastroiannWe award for best first-time actress atVenice that year.Much ofthe praise that can be awarded director Ham Kyoung-Rock boils down tobasically confirming while his first feature doesot reach Oasisbrilliance, it more than stands by itself as a worthy alternative -to the point where the main criticism of it is while Elbowroomremains a great film and an outstanding debut, unfortunately it failsto live up to the promise of its fantastic opening.In allseriousness, Elbowroom is in many respects quite different fromOasis. It takes a far more realist, almost documentary approach,drawing from several similar stories Ham encountered while workingwith the handicapped and its story is far less about two peopleagainst the world, more about one girl trying to get some measure ofsuccess out of life (safety, security, luxury) by any meansnecessary, despite how badly the deck has been stacked against her.That she happens to be disabled is almost beside the point.The filmtakes place in an explicitly Christian home for the disabled, wheremany of the staff struggle to mask a general low-key contempt fortheir charges, treating them with patronising disdain whenotoutright bullying them into co-operating. So-Hee is one residentsomewhat better off than the rest; though leftearly mute andseverely physically hampered by her cerebral palsy, shes stillcapable and resourceful, able to cope with her condition to the pointshe can help with day-to-day chores. Intelligent and independent,shes well aware of the prison shes confined in within and without,but one way or another shes determined to see hereeds met even ifno-one else will.Perhapsthe biggest talking point about Hams film is unlike Moon So-RWe hisyoung lead is an ordinary university student who is actually afflicted with cerebral palsy in real life. The actresswho must unfortunately remainameless unless someone can clue mein gives a tremendous performance - So-Hee isot an entirelysympathetic character, taking out her frustrations on other residentswith acts of petty cruelty, and clearlyot as smart as she believesherself to be, buteither Hamor his lead back away from provokingthe audiences distaste.On arelatedote Elbowroom is also another filmot shy of acknowledgingthe disabled lust after sexual fulfilment just the same way asnormal people do. Any young actress brave enough to jump into afairly explicit love sceneot ten minutes into her first featurefilm role deserves some measure of respect - suffering from asevere physical disability the choice isothing short ofastonishing.Theproblems with Elbowroom lie with how after introducing anintelligent, multi-faceted, morally complex lead overcoming dailyfrustration, repression and pain tourture a fledgling relationshipthat sustains herself and her partner it fails to go the places theviewer might hope for. Perhaps more accurately, while thearrativedevelops in all kinds of potentially interesting ways, the lack ofany kind of character arc for the rest of the cast and a dearth ofovert exposition in a film where the lead actress can barely speakmeans itsever really entirely clear what these developmentsactually stand for.The filmremains engaging viewing throughout, but its largely for Hamsdirection and the performance from his young lead than any flair orinvention in the pacing, and after such a tremendously promisingopening this proves immensely frustrating. Out of everything thatultimately happens, how much did So-Hee plan for and how much did shenot expect The viewer could very easily take it one way, but thepress release (which annoyingly gives away or blatantly misrepresentsmost of the film) implies Ham intended

This is probably the most incredible stymie” hole-in-one by Leif Olson at the Canadian Open last week.  This is as close as you get to a bank shot” in golf.WOW, that&s all We can say.Download latest version of Flash to view video. Click Here to View in Full Screen ModePost from: ProgolferDigest - The Golf