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Bella
Stars: Tammy Blanchard, Eduardo Verástegui, Manny Perez, Ali Landry
Director: Alejandro G Monteverde
This New York romance has bags of charm and warmth, especially in a sequence involving the hero's family, but also tends to the lachrymose and has too many slow scenes without dialogue.
Mexican José (Verástegui) comes to New York with hopes of becoming a soccer star, but ends up working as a chef in the kitchen of his brother Manny's (Perez) restaurant. Also there is Nina (Blanchard). Her perpetual lateness causes Manny to fire her, but José is sympathetic and walks out to comfort her, the pair embarking on a New York day together while Manny frets and fumes in the kitchen.
Nicely shot in Technicolor (although one shot of a travelling train is repeated), the film is very low-key, but the performances are decent and the script, what there is of it, intelligently written. The ending is a bit bewildering, even if quite sweet.
Nina is, of course, pregnant, and much of the drama centres on this and on the source of José's downfall. A mixed bag for easily-moved romantics.
David Quinlan
USA/Mexico 2006. UK Distributor: Kaleidoscope. Technicolor.
92 minutes. Not Widescreen. UK certificate: U.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.
Review date: 30 Sep 2010