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If ever a film needed more cowbells than this, I have seen it! |
Posted on 11/10/2007 6:39:07 AM PST by 3AngelaD
One man’s emotional and spiritual resurrection is charted with sweet assurance in “Bella,” directed by Alejandro Monteverde. The movie begins with a bearded, long-haired Jose (Mexico’s Eduardo Verastegui) sitting on a beach - his face reflecting pain, remorse and stoicism. Only gradually do we learn why. Jose is head chef in a Manhattan restaurant run by his petty tyrant of an older brother, Manny (Manny Perez). When Nina (Tammy Blanchard of “The Good Shepherd,” remarkably affecting) is late yet again, Manny gives her the boot. Jose impulsively leaves the kitchen - and everyone in the lurch - to follow her.
Nina has just confirmed her pregnancy and, with the father out of the picture, plans an abortion. Jose takes her to lunch at a place where he knows the owner and before their main course is served, Nina has a job. The pair travel to Long Island to visit Jose’s parents and younger brother. Nina is taken with the family’s warmth, by the way everyone says grace before dining, by Jose’s quiet strength as they spend hours on the starlit beach.
She discovers that Jose was a world-class soccer player who had signed a multimillion-dollar contract five years earlier. But when a little girl ran in front of his car and was killed, Jose could never play again and has been doing penance ever since. Nina has similar traumas in her past. Her father died when she was 12, and her grieving mother needed Nina to be the adult and take care of her.
Reportedly based on a true story, “Bella” doesn’t lay on the symbolism, but clearly this Puerto Rican-Mexican family of faith represents values in a world where people like Nina have turned bitter.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bostonherald.com ...
I saw Eduardo on O’Reilly and he was hoping there would be a big turnout this weekend for his movie. He needs numbers to get a distributer for his film.
My parents and I are going to see it this afternoon. Support the pro-life message!
Even Rush says to go see this movie.
What day did Rush compliment it?
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If ever a film needed more cowbells than this, I have seen it! |
http://www.fandango.com/top10fanratedmovies
Fan rating 4.9 out of 5.0. Not bad for a “crappy” flick...
/sarcasm
2,864,491 - That is the total from 14 days so far. Pitiful that people are not interested in this movie. Even Brokeback Mountain made 83 million by the end. I am so upset with America. But Hollywood is obviously making movies that Americans want...i.e. Knocked up, Wedding Swingers, American Pie, Meet the Fockers, etc. If I was Hollywood I would not make good quality films either...nobody watches them.
Keep in mind, though, that this is only showing in a very limited number of theaters. Give America some benefit of the doubt! I’d like to see some sort of “per screen” comparison if we’re going to make judgment calls on the numbers.
Bella has 185 screens and Brokeback Mountain had 1715. That was a very good point that you brought up, but why is Bella not on more screens? I hear that an American distributor has not picked up the movie yet. Bill O’Reilly is trying to get Lion’s Gate to pick it up. The American people should be flocking to this movie in order to FORCE someone to pick up the movie and get it played on 1500 screens at least. It will never get the screen number that Spiderman gets, but more screens would be helpful.
Yesterday
Also, keep in mind that “The Gods Must be Crazy” started in a very small number of theaters and became and became such a hit it had three sequels.
That’s exactly right. I saw an email after the opening weekend that showed it ranked second in per screen attendance. There were a lot more screens that opened last night and I think this is a critical time to see whether it will go to the 1,000+ range. I hope the BOR spot might do the trick to convince Lions Gate.
Thanks!
My husband and I saw this movie today and bought an extra ticket just to boost the sales. It was wonderful!!
However, when we got to the theater, the movie wasn’t even listed as one of their movie choices! I had to ask if it was still playing because there wasn’t a word about it anywhere. I’m going to complain to the theater(ticket selling boy wasn’t going to be very helpful) when I find a number or e-mail. I wonder how many people turned away, saw a different movie or went home without standing in line to ask? Grrr!
Good for you!
Fooey on the theater, though. :-\
It isn’t playing all that close to me, but I’ll be sure to see it when it comes to DVD.
Your kids are adorable, by the way!
Thank you! They are growing so fast. I’m afraid to blink!
Saw the movie Saturday in Sacramento; only screen showing it in a 1.8 million metro area! I met another couple who drove an hour to the theater.
Excellent story and telling of it.
The largest flaw: handheld camera used in too many scenes. My wife had her eyes closed; not from the imagery, but from the constant motion of the imagery.
C2K
It isn’t on in one single theater in Washington, D.C., surprise, {the devil, who runs the place, won’t let them show it}, and only one in Virginia, in Alexandria. Looking on the bright side, it was only a 12 minute drive from my house.
See its box office info, it did very well: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1924751/posts
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