Strongly recommended. I’ve been puzzling over its title since I watched Parallel Mothers. Perhaps I’m overthinking it, since there are two mothers, Penélope Cruz’s (Volver) Janis and Ana (newcomer Milena Smit). That explanation seems too on-the-nose for Pedro Almadóvar (Talk To Her) and anyway, Janis and Ana cross paths over and over again. Perhaps he’s referring to the Franco-era puritanism as mother to his early lack of restraint, while his female characters are the incandescent mothers that, before now, he’s kept separate. Eh . . . quien sabe. In any case, Parallel Mothers seems to expose a more conventionally reflective Almadóvar, a trend started with Pain And Glory. But regardless, this is a marvelous movie with a surprisingly dramatic tension between its parallel stories. Parallel Mothers shows once again, not only the simpatico between Almadóvat and Cruz, but her deeply expressive gifts. Also excellent is Israel Elejalde (Magical Girl) as an intersecting father.