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What
a shame!
Here is a film, based on one of the most
celebrated literary love stories ever
written, that trips all over itself on its
way to mediocrity. It takes profound source
material and seems to cram it together with
bizarre shifts in tone, an utter lack of
focus and a screenplay that cannot convey
the magnitude of this unrequited tale of
everlasting love.
Innumerable bad decisions have to be laid at
the feet of director, Mike Newell, who turns
"Love in the Time of Cholera" into a fluffy
melodrama replete with poor performances and
dialogue that evokes more eye-rolling than
tears. This is one of the most disappointing
let-downs of 2007.
It is a simple story really -- a man falls
in love and pledges his unwavering fidelity
to a woman. He proposes and she accepts.
However, the woman's father has loftier
plans for his daughter than a penniless
poet. The couple trade telegrams from afar.
Years pass. However, when they meet again,
she is convinced that her feelings were an
illusion. She marries another man -- a
doctor. He moves on with his life, hiding
the pain by sleeping with other women. He
awaits the death of her new husband before
he makes his move again. But decades will
pass.
It is one of those "simple stories" that has
ample opportunity to follow complicated
tangents. Those tangents require time and
patience -- perhaps only available in a
novel or a mini-series. A two-hour motion
picture is too confined a space to make us
care or comprehend the enormity of these
people's complex emotions.
There are a few positives to the production
that I would be remiss without mentioning.
Giovanna Mezzogiorno is my favorite actress
of all time. I've never seen anyone on the
big screen as compelling with every glance
as she. I simply cannot take my eyes off the
lovely Italian actress. I've seen her in
about half-a-dozen films and she has been
superb in all of them.
Javier Bardem is also tremendous... although
he is weighed down by some awful lines.
Somehow, though, he manages to stay afloat
in rough waters. Benjamin Bratt is also a
pleasant surprise as the "other man".
Unfortunately, the remainder of the
supporting roles range from forgettable to
remarkably poor.
I also had admiration for the score and the
cinematography, both of which befit an
Oscar-baiting period piece.
However, the entire film crumbles under the
weight of a corny screenplay, some laughably
odd scenes whose tones would feel more at
home in a screwball comedy, and a truncated
running time that cannot hold the emotional
profundity of the novel. "Love in the Time
of Cholera" is an overly ambitious mess.
©
Written by TC Candler |
Director
Mike
Newell
Cast
Javier
Bardem
Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Benjamin Bratt
Catalina Sandino Moreno
Fernanda Montenegro
Hector Elizondo
John Leguizamo
Laura Harring
Liev Schreiber
Running Time
139m
Rated
PG13
Official
Website
n/a |
