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Reviews
Estrellita (2000)
Estrellita is the story of an illegitimate girl who is first abandoned and later persecuted by her real mother!
***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** The heroine of this story,Estrellita, was an illegitimate child abandoned by her biological mother Ruth as an infant. Ruth is beautiful, ambitious, and totally ruthless when it comes to getting her own way. Estrellita is raised by Ruth's best friend, Mercedes, as her own child. Ruth elopes with a wealthy man,moves to the United States, and has another daughter named Vanessa. Estrellita's best friend in childhood is Salvador, who is adopted by a wealthy doctor after the death of his real father. Estrella is broken-hearted at their separation, and always hopes he will return to his neighborhood again. Years pass, Salvador is now a doctor and engaged to Vanessa. His adopted father returns to Peru to accept a high government position and Salvador returns to his old neighborhood. There he finds Estrella and they both fall deeply in love. When Ruth finds out that Salvador has broken his engagement to her legitimate daughter, she is both furious and desperate as she was counting on Salvador's fortune to save her husband's company from bankruptcy. She determines to destroy Estrella, and even learning from the dying Mercedes that Estrella is the daughter she abandoned doesn't stop her from her evil plans. Ruth has a phony birth certificate made( after murdering Mercedes in her hospital bed) that makes Estrella believe that she and Salvador are half-brother and sister. Estrella is horrified to think she is committing incest with her own brother especially after she learns that she is pregnant with his child. She tries to destroy Salvador's love for her and runs away to Cuzco. Ruth continues to lie, cheat, steal, murder, and destroy all who cross her path in her obsessive desire to secure her daughter Vanessa's future and her own. There are many other exciting subplots, and both criminals and murders abound in this story as well as many pairs of frustrated lovers. Zully Montero as the ruthless and manipulative Ruth is superb as always, while Carolina Sabina and the other younger cast members are very appealing. I would highly recommend this mini-series!
Alondra (1995)
A novela of a beautiful young woman torn between sexual passion with one man and a dark complicated love with another.
I loved this novela. I'm a great fan of the beautiful and talented Ana Colchero, and she shines in this period costume drama as the heroine Alondra. The storyline might seem a bit overdrawn to a more sophisticated American audience, but the story clearly reflected the social and moral attitudes of that era, and also the ignorance and misconceptions that abounded concerning insanity. The crux of the story is that Alondra, a beautiful young girl from a wealthy family, is seduced by an older married man, yet is attracted to a younger suitor whose past holds many dark secrets. Her older lover refuses to leave his wife and children and she marries her suitor( played by Ernesto Laquardia), but he refuses to sleep with her because of the heredity insanity that runs in his family. She runs off with the married man and becomes pregnant, but he goes back to his wife and she to her husband who accepts both her and the child. There are many various subplots concerning other characters, but the acting is excellent, the costumes authentically beautiful as are the locations set in both Mexico and here in the United States. There are many more plot turns and twists too numerous to mentioned within this commentary, but I found the series highly entertaining and emotionally involving.
Somewhere in Time (1980)
Romantic and Haunting
When I was a little girl I fell in love with the movie, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. When I was an adult I lamented that they didn't make romantic pictures like Ghost/Mrs muir and the portrait of Jennie.ect. Then in the early 80's I saw this romantic gem and added a new love to my my old favorites. Christopher Reeve is not a great actor, but here he displays the gauche sincerity necessary for his role. Jane Seymour is perfection as is the music,the setting,costumes, and supporting actors. It is a hauntingly romantic picture and in such movies it is mandatory to suspend our critical faculties, and just dive into the emotions expressed by the charcters and the situation. Other films may be brilliant works of art, but usually you are unable or unwillingly to watch them over and over again. Somewhere in Time has that timeless quality that is the hallmark of the genuine Romantic Classic. This film and the ones I have mentioned above are films you feel with your soul. The human who has no romance in his soul is only to be pitied. Picking out flaws is probably why they are unable to relate to romance in the first place!
Goliath Awaits (1981)
It is an interesting movie, but not a compelling one despite a fine cast of character actors, and one fantastic newcomer,Duncan Regehr!
This was the film that first introduced me to the actor, Duncan Regehr, who played the leader of the Bow people. His performance and that of Christopher Lee as the conflicted leader of the sunken Goliath were the only bright spots in this sci-fi thriller. It could have been a great picture for the idea was fascinating, but the writing was heavy-handed. Even such top-notched character actors as Jeanette Nolan, John McIntire,John Carradine, and Jean Marsh were hampered by the insipid dialogue. I love Frank Gorshin but his performance here was a comic book caricature and unworthy of him. Both Mark Harmon and Emma Samms were pretty to look at, but bland. Duncan Regehr came across as sexy and powerful, and one of the film's implausibilities was that the heroine would prefer Mark Harmon over him! Duncan Regehr and Christopher Lee, were the only actors who gave a three-dimensional performance to what was written as one-dimensional characters. Still it's not a bad picture-- it is a interesting picture, but not a compelling one!
Jane Eyre (1983)
I feel that this is the best adaption of the book I've ever seen.
Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke have both fulfilled the mental images I had of Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre when I first read the book. Mr. Dalton captures the duality of Rochester's nature- passionate,intense, seductively magnetic yet often cold, sardonic, and even cruel while Zelah Clarke conveys the hints of steel beneath Jane's demure manner, and the yearning for love. Jane and Rochester are both intensely passionate characters, and it is this quality that Dalton and Clarke gloriously reveal when their love is revealed, and in equal measure when their happiness is nearly destroyed. Perfect casting and a highly literate and faithful script make this a joy to watch! I bought the video and it was worth every penny.