Movies We've Just Watched discussion
February 2009: Theme of Love
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Love in the Time of Cholera
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If you liked the movie, definitely check out the book. It's some of the richest prose I've ever read. Absolutely beautiful. You feel like you're there.
I read the book years ago and didn't know that it was a movie. I was so surprised!
I loved the book, but I heard the movie was laughable.Garcia-Marquez is known for his wonderful and magical imagery which works well as a piece of fiction, but can be very very hard to translate into cinema.
And yes
I have heard of instances where old loves hook up after 50 or more years have passed.
i read the book and loved it, and never wanted to see a filmic version.....to answer your quesiton meg: no. waiting 50 years is out of the question.
One would like to have the ability to wait for 50 years, perhaps, but not the necessity.The film is barely a patch on the book in my opinion, largely due to casting problems. Barden is really good, but John Leguizamo was awful, and the presentation of the character differed considerably from the book, perhaps to play to John's perceived strengths. I wasn't particularly crazy about the doctor, Benjamin Bratt either. Far from the worst translation to the big screen for a book, but hardly the best.
Well, what I did was pretend it wasn't the from the book and just sat back to enjoy the movie. It wasn't a deep movie, but entertaining and great for the theme of the month.
Well, I won't pretend I didn't enjoy it at all. I read the book after watching the movie, which worked best for me.
The only person I was curious about as far as the film translation was Bardem. I love him and his work but he seemed an unlikely casting choice for Florentino Ariza.
His performance was quite good in my mind. Didn't have anything in common with No Country for Old Men, if that was the image in you mind. The two performances together showcase his range very well.
I agree with you. It is worth seeing. Mine was on HBO I think.
George wrote: "His performance was quite good in my mind. Didn't have anything in common with No Country for Old Men, if that was the image in you mind. The two performances together showcase his range very well."Oh, I don't doubt his range. He's brilliant. I've been a fan for many years. In fact, the idea of him being in a Coen movie made me giddy...and he definitely delivered (so did they). I just always saw Florentino as being smaller and meeker. A rail-thin book geek, I guess. That doesn't describe Bardem physically. I have no doubt he did well as Florentino, but if I'd been casting, I never would have thought of him.
my favorite javier performance is "before night falls"...amazing.
Please, please read and enjoy the book, but leave the movie.... It's just not up to Garcia Marquez fascinating prose, not to mention the way he can picture his characters and make them alive. That's where the movie fails, in my humble opinion: the casting, and the terrifying make-up effects. The female protagonist is an Italian actress of good talents (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), who's actually 35. Why, oh why towards the end of the movie, when Fermina should be around 70 years of age, she looks exactly like a young woman with a horrible grey wig and wrinkles drawn with white pencil on her face? It was funny, and I couldn't feel moved or touched by the 'happy end' as I was when I read it in the book.
I've heard MANY times that this is a GREAT read, and the thread continues here - guess it's time to try it! And, since I prefer reading first, I'll skip the movie ...
Definitely skip the movie. I was debating between one or the other and chose the movie because I wanted to see Javier Bardem in something again. Now I will have to wait years to get the bad taste out of my mouth and bring myself to get the book.
No, I wouldn`t skip the movie, no matter how poor a rendition. I don`t regret having seen the movie and would do so again, but as an adaptation it is hardly of the quality of the original.I totally agree with GEORGE concerning the miscasting of Benjamin Bratt, whose acting skills are generally not of the highest in any event. I do believe he was cast as he is a Latino American, considered a heart throb and would bring his fans to the silver screen (and is also married to the most beautiful woman in the world, Talisa Soto). But his acting throughout was lame.
I also agree with Elena in her criticism about fermina`s aging beauty and the cosmetics department`s inability to render a more thorough job, but I am a bit surprised that she did not also point out the botched job of our lover, who went from a callow 19 year old to the appearance of a mature man in his late forties when Fermina only ages 2-3 years at most.
I also fault the moral tone of the film, or how it studiously avoids adding a moral stance in keeping with Marquez`s own position, but deleting a crucial element at the end of the film-namely the suicide of the teenage girl he seduces. In the novel, Marquez defuses any moral judgment the reader may make against the hero by his constant insistence of this lifelong over riding abiding love he has for Fermina and that we are to only judge him by his own morality, and yet the director knows quite well that he can not pull off maintaining the plot as originally written without having the audience turn on the Florentino character.
I also fault his miscasting as I too, as did Jill, perceive his person as much thinner, geekier, even queerishly eccentric, almost repulsive, so much so that despite his 643 lovers in his lifetime, no one ever suspected him for a Don Juan.
well, i love both the book and the movie!
I loved both the book and the movie.I might wait fifty years on someone I loved. Depended on if I thought I had fifty years left. LOL
i definitely don't have another 50 years, so it's out of the question.
I probably don't, either, but at any rate, I wouldn't want to chance it or spend it just waiting.
The hero is decidedly obsessive. He even enters that poetry contest year in and year out without ever winning the grand prize. I can`t think of anyone who would epitomize the appearance of the original character in the book. That`s Hollywood`s fault there as ugly, weird looking people don`t get to be actors for the most part. Perhaps Steve Buscemi or Tiny Tim would fit the billing on the basis of physical appearance but either would be a bad match. Steven`s blue collar, crusty, decadent and depraved demeanor would not suit the Florentino character, and as for Tiny Tim....need I say more.
I could see a younger John Hurt as Florentino.
I saw the movie review on Oprah,,But I want to read the book before I watch the movie...
Has anyone seen this movie? Definitely fits into the theme of love. An extremely sensitive man falls for a beautiful woman. But, alas, he has not position in society and no money; therefore, the beauty marries an established doctor. Not the happiest of marriages. Sensitive man never stops loving her and can not leave the town that they both live in. He pines, writes poetry, ogles when he can. He has some affairs during the 50 years but never stops dreaming. Mamma tries to set him up with other women, some of the setups are hilarious, but it doesn't work.
The big question is could you wait 50 years to be with the one you love?