Bella (***½)
Directed by: Alejandro Gomez MonteverdeStarring: Eduardo Verástegui, Tammy Blanchard
Seen: July 15th 2008
***½ Out of ****
Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, and RottenTomatoes.com’s #1 User rated film for 2007, this little gem also features on Yahoo’s Top 20 rated films of all time list. And upon seeing it, it’s easy to understand why.
Jose works at his brother’s New York restaurant as a cook, and Nina as a waitress. Jose has for the most part retreated from the world, and hides in the kitchen, where he has become a very good chef, and the one person Manny’s (his brother) restaurant really can’t do without. One day when Nina arrives late for work (again), without explanation (she was administering a home pregnancy test), Manny, the owner and Jose’s brother, fires her in front of all the staff members. As she walks off crying, Jose simply leaves the restaurant and walks after her.
They don’t really know each other, but Jose is there as a comforting presence for Nina. The film doesn’t force the usual romance between the two, but rather a bond that goes deeper, a true connection between the two that eventually reveals Jose’s past, and how he got to where he is today. Not taking anything away from the story I can only say that this is a beautifully sad and stunningly redemptive movie that really draws you into the tragic events of Jose’s life as they are told by way of flashbacks, while also telling of the possible tragic events to come for Nina.
I walked out of the cinema truly refreshed by a story that did not adhere to any of the mass-market “rules” out there, but which simply gave us a story in its purest and simplest form, and its most beautiful.
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