Bel Canto
A memorable adaptation radiating love, sound and humanity. - 6.5/10
by Francesco Bakhos - 365 Movies Lebanon
A memorable adaptation radiating love, sound and humanity.
A famous American soprano becomes trapped in a hostage situation when she's invited to perform for a wealthy industrialist in South America.
American pie director, Paul Weitz, managed to surpass all the boundaries/limits of this overused genre and created a really powerful and moving scenario. He exposed the other side of hostage dramas, a new and brighter side, the one we never knew we missed; the relationship between captor and captive, like we've never seen it before, when all outside barriers break down and all is left is love, passion and fraternity.
Bel Canto contained some interesting scenes while others were not so great (useless) but when you get passed them, you'll thank yourself for sticking around.
Unfortunately the storyline was a bit inconsistent at some parts and contained a rather fair amount of plot holes which I, wholeheartedly, neglected and focused on what truly mattered, the characters and their destiny.
What's surprising is that you'll immediately get attached to all the characters (antagonists and 'protagonists' ). Everyone was created for a purpose and to deliver a certain message. Julianne Moore, Ken Watanabe and Ryo Kase were wonderful and all gave stunning performances but the true star of Bel Canto is the underdog, the wonderful Maria Mercedes Coroy. Her performance was totally award worthy. It was so raw, you can't but fall in love with her.
In addition, surpassing all the clichés, this film highlighted the power of Music in bringing people closer to each other and how it brings out the best in any human (captor and captive...). But what totally made this movie worthy is the heartbreaking climax.An intense punch in the gut that will leave you speechless and angry at the same time.
Bel Canto, a cinematic experience that will go down as one of my favorites in 2018 (even though i only gave it a 6.5).
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