NEW YORK – Pedro Almodovar’s “Los abrazos rotos” (Broken Embraces), his latest film and the fourth collaboration between the former enfant terrible of Spanish cinema and actress Penelope Cruz, has received mostly positive reviews from U.S. critics ahead of its release Friday in New York.

“Can there be such a thing as exuberant melancholy? I can’t think of another way to describe the spirit of ‘Broken Embraces,’ Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, the title of which carries a telling hint of paradox. It is grave and effervescent, tender and cruel,” New York Times film critic A.O. Scott wrote in his review published Friday.

Scott noted that since Almodovar’s 1995 movie “La flor de mi secreto” (The Flower of My Secret), which marked a departure from the outrageous humor and explicit sexuality of his earlier projects, the Spanish filmmaker has repeatedly drawn inspiration from Hollywood directors of the 1950s like Alfred Hitchcock, Douglas Sirk and Nicholas Ray.

He added, however, that the filmmaker’s “engagement with the great traditions of movie melodrama is never merely nostalgic.”

Referring to acclaimed actress Penelope Cruz, winner of the 2009 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” Scott wrote that she has become Almodovar’s “link to the glorious movie-star traditions of the past.”

In “Los abrazos rotos,” shot in the style of a hard-boiled 1950s film noir, the 35-year-old Spaniard portrays a young, aspiring movie star who cultivates a look similar to Audrey Hepburn in films such as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

New York Post film critic Lou Lumenick, meanwhile, wrote that Cruz “is a treat for the eyes and so is her latest film, a sizzlingly sexy film noir ... that is a love letter to to the magical power of movies to mend broken hearts.”

“Run, don’t walk” to see Almodovar’s latest, Lumenick wrote, adding that although it could be considered a step down from his previous release, “the near-perfect ‘Volver’ (Return),” it is still “superior to at least 99 percent of the movies released in 2009.”

“Los abrazos rotos,” which opened in Spain in March, was first screened in the United States in October at both the New York Film Festival and the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival. EFE