Manolete

nice costumes, great cast. and a lot of crumbs. the sin of film is the lost of story. nothing coherent, few poetic images, many good intentions and a fake result - too pink, too kitsch, too unrealistic. the solutions are many for save the story. but the great problem is the absence of a clear project. it is a film about corrida and a legendary matador, about love and infidelity, about the vulnerability of a hero but nothing profound - only a large collection of sketches without a real purpose. for Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz the film is only occasion for another role. but that is the basic problem. why that actors for a confuse project ?a film like many others. not bad. only uninspired.

... and nothing more. sure, it is a nice film. and a not bad homage to a great matador. but the coherence of story is absent. the roots of story - reduced at sketches. the love story, the dramatic love story, only as occasion for remind slices from soap opera. and the only problem is, in fact, the cast. Adrien Brody deserves a better script. Penelope Lopez has the science to give more than a series character. something fundamental is wrong in this case. and this is all.

Nice costumes and great actors do not make a movie great. A good story does. Too bad the original writer, Bill Crown, was bumped out of the process by those who hijacked the project. I guess Karma decided the fate of the film.

1200 pages of research were prepared but obviously not used. This is a story about a real man living in real times. Taking poetic liberties is fine, but there has to be authenticity for a film like this to work.

Brody hot off his Oscar was perfectly suited to the role. Penelope Cruise, wisely selected as the love interest also internationally recognized, should have brought forth faithful followers. A formula that would have worked had not the intentions of the story been skewed so far off mark.

"I'm just your mistress, Death is your wife." A true story about the love between Matador Manolete (Brody) and the woman he falls in love with Lupe Sino (Cruz). When aging bullfighter Manolete is told that a younger matador is as good or better then he is, he begins to try and cheat death even more. Will the love of Lupe help him in the ring, or endanger him? This is another very slow moving movie. The acting is very good and the scenery and bullfights are fun to watch and look at, but it just doesn't really seem to go anywhere sometimes. This movie is at its core a love story, mixed in with the action of the bullfight. There is actual footage of the real Manolete mixed in with the filmed scenes that is a very nice touch and adds to the experience. Not knowing anything about the real people or story I have no idea how accurate this is, but the love at times is tested to the limits. Overall I would say this is more of a movie that women will enjoy more then men, but it's not a horrible thing to have to sit through. I have sat through much, much worse. A very OK movie, nothing to special. I give it a B-.

Would I watch again? - I don't think I will.

I don't understand the bad reviews. Perhaps its because A MATADOR'S MISTRESS taps into psychological sexual themes that are too close to home for some viewers? Penelope Cruises persona as the only person who truly understood Manolete (Adrian Brody) is a very deep concept. Too deep for most viewers I guess. Brilliantly played out and a must watch.