By Christa Youngpeter

Legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodovar once again teams up with his darling muse, Penelope Cruz, to weave a complex, sometimes raw but overall beautiful film in “Broken Embraces.” Just nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language film, “Embraces” holds and doesn’t let go. Cruz effortlessly charms every second she’s on camera, leaving one longing for more whenever she’s absent in one of the many flashes forward in time.

That very longing, though, is the mortar that holds the rest of the characters together for 14 tumultuous years. Two men, one incredibly rich, the other incredibly involved in his art of directing, ultimately wind up heartbroken by Cruz’ character, Lena. Secretary by day, wannabe actress by trade and call girl by night to support her dying father, Cruz embodies all three of these conflicting personas with such ease and grace, one can’t help but remember why she won Best Actress at last year’s Academy Awards for “Vicky Christina Barcelona.”

“Embraces” begins in 2008, Madrid, Spain in the flat of a man, blinded late in life, going about his middle years as a pseudonym, Harry Caine (Lluís Homar). Thanks to the help of a busty young Samaritan reading him the paper (among other things), Harry comes across an obituary of a prominent business man, Ernesto Martel (José Luis Gómez). The two men, perfect foils, become interwoven in the life of Lena.

Without revealing too much (the film’s complexities begin to fall into place early on), a story that could be blandly one-dimensional, comes to life in a simmered, slow-cooked fashion across nearly a decade and a half. Fourteen years prior, Harry (ne Matteo Blanco), was a successful film director shouldered by his long-time manager Judit (Blanca Portillo), a hardened to the world single mother to Diego.

How the lives of these three falls into those of Lena and the powerful magnate Martel, is laid out for the audience in such careful detail that each character seems heartbreakingly real. Thanks to everything from the spot-on acting to the use of color to occasional laugh out loud humor, awe gain an intimate look at each player- their ambition, their duplicity, their secrets- and wind down to a satisfying, if not uplifting conclusion.

Almodovar again excels as a director, incorporating the inherent Gaudi-ish artiness and passion of Madrid, the soft simplicity of love and the cruel casualties of fate. As for its chances among other foreign film contenders? Certainly a possibility, but at times the air of commercial accessibility becomes apparent, leaving room for more challenging films to take the crown.

As an entire package, though, it does seem to have it all. Strong acting, even pacing, coherency (even despite the shifts in time) and a deep connection to human interaction and its often-devastating repercussions.