timon88

All this mystification expressed over why this flick wasn't considered for an Oscar is, in itself, a bit mystifying. While it wouldn't have been the first time Hollywood recognized what is essentially a tawdry melodrama in that fashion, let's not confuse a bloated, ineptly manipulative movie with great art.

It LOOKS great, though. Very high production values with great costumes and beautiful period sets. And the cinematography is gorgeous. All at the service of... ? A convoluted story, put in the hands of people that seem to have no idea how to tell it. Some good actors involved, though, gamely trying to make something of execrable material.

First, it should be said that this movie has some stunningly beautiful visual images--ones that really stick with you. The trick is taking them in without becoming utterly nauseated in the process.

Anyone who has done any serious thinking about life and literature is probably going to have some serious problems with this flick. One gets a smattering of lots of different philosophies--Hindu, Buddhist, Judeo-Christian, Jungian, "New Age" (which is probably the moniker that best encapsulates the views of life and afterlife)--and lots of borrowed symbols from various brands of mythology, but it's all so mush-minded that ultimately none of the ideas are the least bit compelling. Of course, the weak dialogue doesn't help... it's the kind smug, sophomoric writing where EVERYTHING sounds like a cliché, even when it isn't (which is almost never). The whole mess is capped by a New-Age retelling of the Orpheus legend, with a hell/underworld populated by countless kvetching souls.

As an actor, Robin Williams seems to have two modes: twinkly, calculated lovability and scrappy earnestness, and it's impossible to say which one is more annoying. Annabella Sciorra manages to get in some good work in a thankless role.

I found myself constantly rolling my eyes and groaning through this one... the only explanation I can come up with as to how I managed to watch the whole thing is the car-wreck analogy--you desperately want to look away but you just... can't...

Well-written and very well-acted, "El Diputado" is a very human take on a story of political and sexual intrigue in recently-post-Franco Madrid. The politician Roberto Orbea (José Sacristán) is set up by political opponents, aware of his secret proclivities, for sexual entanglement with the street hustler Juanito (José Luis Alonso). But the unexpected happens and Juanito begins to experience real feelings of love for Orbea, and the political opponents, when the suspect they are being played, are none too happy about this. Mariá Luisa San José is Orbea's almost unbelievably understanding wife.

The three principal actors do some really wonderful work, aided by some very good writing, as members of the love triangle--sterling examples of the "less is more" approach to acting. The viewer feels real compassion for these all-too-human characters, in stark contrast to a movie like "Making Love"--the love-triangle plot reminded me of it, albeit very superficially--which opted for caricatures over actual people.

The look of the movie is real '70's, which only adds to it's immediacy and charm.

A very entertaining movie that seems to me to be ripe for re-release on DVD.