More than a fake ass.

Volver

* Written and directed by Pedro Almodovar

* Starring Penelope Cruz * Sony Pictures Classics

For film fans who like their movies smart, humane, and unpredictable, writer-director Pedro Almodovar often feels like the cinema's last, best hope. And with Volver the out Spanish director keeps alive an extraordinary streak of films that include Oscar-winners All About My Mother and Talk to Her and the sexy, disturbing Bad Education. Giving away too much of the plot would ruin some of Volver's delicious surprises: Penelope Cruz stars as a hardworking woman who has to cope not only with loss in her immediate family but also with what appears to be the ghost of her late mother (Carmen Maura). But it's an Almodovar film, so the unexpected should be no surprise, and the women in the story can be counted on to take care of each other. This may be the filmmaker's least specifically gay movie, but he reminds us of what real family values are in an era when the term is grossly abused by homophobic fundamentalists. It's a treat to see Maura reunited with Almodovar for the first time since 1988's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, but it's Cruz who's a real revelation here--her work in American movies has been decorative at best, but in her native Spanish she's a ferocious Mother Courage of the Anna Magnani school. The Academy may be content with honoring her just for wearing a prosthetic butt, but the petite actress gives an undeniably great and multilayered performance here. I'll be pleasantly surprised to see a better movie this year.