Bel Canto

Julianne was the only reason I even watched this. I felt bad that she thought this would be a good film. But the days when I was a fan ( I still am of her ) of her great films she really made acting happen. This filmed bombed so bad but it's not her fault. The movie industry has been more in a down state for years. And now and then a great film but luck gets made. The last film I saw her in was excellent when Still Alice in 2015. Since then I don't know. She reunited with Todd Haynes which I think was good I saw that. But 17,500 gross ??? How much did they pay her. This film made no money is just felt flat. With 4.7 I mean that's bad.

Like Lifeboat, Key Largo, and Dog Day Afternoon, this film focuses on a limited number of characters trapped in a claustrophobic and seemingly untenable situation. The sumptuousness of the industrialist's mansion and the erudite sophistication of the opera crowd contrast sharply with the roughshod revolutionary naivete of the largely illiterate ragtag band of guerillas, yet the humanity of both manages to shine through. Charactor development and cross-cultural exchange are the focus here and ironic unexpected downright hilarious interactions abound between the guerillas and the hostages. Their comaraderie is heartwarming and inspiring! The beauty of operatic song is also celebrated and holds one in thrall the few times it is showcased--I was left wanting to hear more of Renee Fleming's celestially cerebral phraseology. A film so engaging you don't want it to end, but end it must in the grand tradition all great operas.

When I read this book in 2001, I was struck by how cinematic the writing was. The story was tragic and operatic--perfect for film. Why it took so long, I don't know, but this movie is a major disappointment. Weitz had a brilliant cast and Rene Fleming's voice to work with and he wasted both of them. The most powerful moment in the book is when the guerrillas are going to execute a hostage and the singer faces them down and blasts them with "O mio babbino caro". Violence is impossible in the face of such beauty and the entire dynamic of the situation is changed. Choosing to cut out that scene was the first indicator that this director/screenwriter was clueless about this material. The final assault that frees the hostages was just bad action movie crap. We need this scene to be operatic: the saddest aria in the repertoire blasting on the soundtrack as the assault plays out in slow motion--the death of each of the characters we have grown to know devastating us as we watch them gunned down one by one with all the tragic pathos of a great opera. Patchett's novel deserves better.

Because I thought this was a pretty good and touching movie. One test I have, when watching a movie on cable, is how many times I pick up my phone to check the net. I didn't during this one. I will not give spoilers but it's based on a novel ... so the outcome is not a script thing but an adaptation. I thought the performances were compelling enough. Don't be discouraged by other reviews. Make up your own mind.

This is a meretricious and pretentious piece of kitsch. The artistic faults are not the filmmakers, nor the actors, because the film is a perfectly well-made piece of middle-brow entertainment. The moral and artistic failure lies in the writing. Not even Renee Fleming's signature piece, 'Song to the Moon', as mimed by Moore, can amend the dreadful experience of this film. Firstly the title which does not refer to the style of bel canto opera, nor is there a piece of Donizetti or Bellini through which it could string a reason in order to use the term. There is not much singing of any kind apart from Puccini's 'Vissi d'arte', another typical name-checking aria which makes it clear that the use of bel canto is a silly irrelevant borrowing in order to add a vestige of style. Then there is the drama itself which follows a predictable and sentimental course in which the leads fall for each other. Their bond is abbreviated, and it is not polite to say how, but it is a piece of deliberate and unsubtle manipulation, as well as very hackneyed plotting which ought to have been excised before it had been written. Of course, as is the nature with this comforting vacuous work, love strives to conquer all, and all the struggles by the protagonists are in the name of love. This bromide, this stupefyingly simplistic nonsense, is incapable of providing drama beyond the stale and bland product it is. It pretends to assume a form of drama with guns and noble gestures and a conflict of ideas but that pseudo battle and tragedy is elided with Dvorák's song. It's probable that the meaning of that song in the opera Rusalka evaded the understanding of all involved too. For real bel canto drama, Donizetti's Tudor Queens operas (Maria Stuarda, Anna Bolena and Roberto Devereux) are much better.

I know we have three months to go, but I am declaring this the worst film of 2018. based on an incident from about 30 years ago in south America, this tells the tale of hostages taken by a group of guerrilla forces. Julianne moore gives the worst performance of her life. I am blaming the director for this. sam watanabe is totally wasted. I cannot believe people act like this in such a terrifying situation.

I like you julianne moore but, not on this movie. Everytime she sings here, I cringe to death.... I thought that one of the easiest kind of acting is lip-synching but, I was wrong.. She just wasn't able to do it well... It saddened me. And Mr. Ken Watanabe, what's really your role in the movie again? I almost didn't notice you! Waste of funds for this one and, talent! (If there's any on this one, sorry.)

Acting: 8 /Story: 7 /Production values: 5 /Suspence - Thriller level: 6 /Action: 0 /Mystery - unknown: 0 /Romance level: 7 /Film noir ~ neo-noir density: none /Comedy elements: slightly /Overall: 7

It is a beautiful film. But soulless . The theme is generous, the actors are admirables . But you feel nothing. No emotion,no thrill . Only , at the end, the shadow of compassion. Something essential is missing. The director seems in hurry development, the love stories are just sketches , the characters are reduced to few lines. The virtue - the delicacy of unfinished stories. A delicate sketch. But nothing more.

The only reason I saw this movie was because Julianne Moore, which she did a good job at, but I thought her character lacked some substance, something that I would have appreciated in order to better connect with the main characters of the movie. The movie has a good story, but I think its hard to go into that much details in less than 2 hours. Bel Canto would have been a great if it was made into a mini-series. Besides Julianne Moore, others actresses and actors in this movie were not bad either, especially the Commandate Benjamin "Tenoch Huerta" and Carmen "Maria Mercedes Coroy," but again I would have liked to learn more about these characters. Overall, it was a cute movie and as my title suggests it is not a thriller movie at all, there was more romance in the movie than the thriller part.