BELLA
Director: Alejandro Gomez Monteverde Stars: Eduardo Verastegui, Tammy Blanchard, Manny Perez, Ali Landry, Anjelica Aragon, Jaime Tirelli, Ramon Rodriguez
Reviewed by PETER MALONE
The popularity of Bella is something of a fairytale in itself. Made on a small budget by an aspiring Mexican writer-director in Los Angeles, it took the prize for the People’s Award at the 2006 Toronto Festival, beating many big name films. After doing some of the rounds of festivals, it eventually received an American commercial release in October 2007.
The film is very appealing with its romantic overtones but with its underlying sadness.
Popular singer and actor, Eduardo Verastegui, plays a young man whose life went wrong but who was able to overcome what had happened to him and be positive in someone else’s life. The film opens and closes with his character, Jose, sitting on a beach. He watches people pass by, especially the children. As his memory goes back, he remembers the time of promise when he was going to be a star footballer but a car accident changes everything in a flash and destroys his hopes as well as the lives of others.
His memory also goes back to a significant day when he rescued the waitress who is sacked by his brother from the restaurant where he works as the chef. She has her moods and a temper – which is not helped by her discovery that she is pregnant. Jose takes the day off and they – and we – share some momentous events during that day: whether the waitress will have the child, a visit to Jose’s family (and meeting his entertainingly lively and undiplomatic brother), words of wisdom from both father and mother, the reality of support from Jose.
And then, we are back at the beach, wondering what happened to the waitress, Jose, what about the child -because it is four years later.
Verastegui has great charm and presence. Tammy Blanchard is very good and convincing as Nina, the waitress. And the film, made by a young man in his late 20s, is a blend of realism and sadness, joy and redemption, plenty of sentiment, but great hope.
Reviewed by MARCUS SINCLAIR
On the basis of it being the winner at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, Bella is, for me, a puzzlement! I found it thin at the narrative level, and flimsy at the visual. Its basic thesis is that of solidarity of the family and compassion for others – all fine sentiments, but they are not fully explored.
The director, Alejandro Monteverde, attempts to develop this through a young man – a chef working at his brothers restaurant, and his devotion to a girl, a waitress there who discovers she is pregnant (the father is never named) and is sacked for being absent far-too-often from work. One can sympathise on this issue with the brother for the success of his business depends partly on service, but he shows no compassion for his workers, He is a “slave-driver” to all; his sole concerns being the making money, running a first class establishment, preening and glorifying in his own vanity.
All this is very well, but it is presented in a semi-static, old-fashioned style. There is no great drama or emotional climaxes. It never rises above the level of popular melodrama pitched towards matinee matrons who want nothing more than to be lightly entertained with their friends for a short time between cups of Earl Grey or a sweet sherry and cakes.
The visuals do nothing to make the situation more true to life. They tend to be idyllic with their soft colours and graininess: the scenes at the beach, at the market, the family and their nice home in suburbia to list a few, and they are often used as fillers to extend the running time. What lasts for ninety-one minutes could have been more adequately told in thirty minutes or less. The camera lingers on objects and people that have nothing to do with driving the narrative forwards or enhancing the gravity of the situation in which the girl finds herself.
And the ending comes as a surprise. There is no explanation as to how, when, where or why it came about. Though the director is a well-meaning film-maker and displays sensitivity towards his subject matter, he remains overall nothing more than an amateur.