Farewell to the Ark/さらば箱舟 (Saraba hakobune) (1984) - The next to last film from Japanese surrealist Terayama

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A mysterious, beach-set, surrealist poster for Shûji Terayama's Farewell to the Ark

All the clocks of an entire village are buried. A relationship between two cousins is plagued by the chastity belt forced upon her by her father, along with taunts from the villagers and accusations of impotence, - which lead to homicide. The couple attempt to flee. SPOILER But they invariably return to where they came from, the man loses his mind and is killed.

Farewell to the Ark is written by Rio Kishida (The Boxer/Bokusâ (1977)) and co-writer/director Shûji Terayama (Pastoral Hide and Seek/Den-en ni shisu (1974)) as a loose adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by Gabriel García Marquez (Of Love and Other Demons (1994)). The film has visually amusing and distinguished qualities; the hole in the ground, the green goddess sequences, the escape and the ending. As well as occasionally poetic observations.
- But overall the magical allegory of Farewell to the Ark is too ambiguous too relay much else than that modernism stinks. Another problem is that this very theatrical, circus-like film drags out.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Farewell to the Ark premiered 8 September (Japan) and runs 127 minutes. Details about its making and release are not immediately found. Terayama passed away before its release. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. Terayama had one last film to his name, which also came out in 1984: Our Age Comes Riding on a Circus Elephant/Jidai wa sakasu no zo ni notte' 84. 285 IMDb-users have given Farewell to the Ark a 7.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Farewell to the Ark?

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

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+ 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.

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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?