Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) - Newell's Márquez adaptation is a disaster

10/17/2018

Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) - Newell's Márquez adaptation is a disaster

♥

+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year

A sweeping period romance epic is promised from this picturesque poster for Mike Newell's Love in the Time of Cholera

In Colombia in the second half of the 19th century, there were two people, who loved each other, but who could not be together, and she was married and rejected him, but he persisted to love her, and only as elderly people their love was finally able to be realized.

Love in the Time of Cholera is written by Ronald Harwood (The Pianist (2002)), adapting the same-titled 1985 novel by Gabriel García Márquez (Of Love and Other Demons/Del Amor y Otros Demonios (1994)), and directed by great British filmmaker Mike Newell (The Awakening (1980)).
What may sound as a beautiful story results in an objectionable film here: It seems as if Newell doesn't care for the source text. At any rate the story comes out extremely inauthentic; the dialog rings false; and cliches seem to be hiding behind every corner. - The aesthetics chosen of a 'beautifully rundown' Latin America in warm colors is also clichéd.
Love in the Time of Cholera is also overlong and very boring. The acting is alive, but the film is a total fiasco.

Mike Newell: 2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) - Newell straddles too much in fair action-adventure

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Donnie Brasco (1997) - Newell's fantastic, authentic gangster tale

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 31.3 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.62 times the cost)
[Love in the Time of Cholera premiered 4 October (Festival do Rio, Brazil) and runs 139 minutes. Producer Scott Steindorff spent 3 years getting the rights to the novel. The film marks the first an likely the last Hollywood adaptation of a Márquez work. Shooting took place in Colombia and England, including London, finishing in September 2006. The film opened #10 to a 1.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it declined from there and only grossed 4.6 mil. $ (14.7 % of the total gross.) The biggest market was Italy with 5.4 mil. $ (17.3 %). North America was the 2nd biggest, and the 3rd biggest was Mexico with 4.2 mil. $ (13.4 %). An unreleased final version of the film was reportedly screened for Márquez, after which he smilingly declared "Bravo!" Roger Ebert gave the film a 1.5/4 star review, equal to its rating here. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe. Newell returned with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010). Javier Bardem (Don't Tempt Me/Sin Noticias de Dios (2001)) returned in great Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008); Giovanna Mezzogiorno (Don't Tell/La Bestia nel Cuore (2005)) in Les Murs Porteurs (2007); Benjamin Bratt (Doctor Strange (2016)) in Trucker (2008). Love in the Time of Cholera is rotten at 25 % with a 4.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Love in the Time of Cholera?

No comments:

Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

10/17/2018

Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) - Newell's Márquez adaptation is a disaster

Related posts: