Bel Canto

There appear to be a lot of "haters" because of what this movie is not about. What it is about is the relationships that develops between 2 groups, between terrorists and their captives (perhaps "Stockholm Syndrome"?). While the movie is not as good as the novel, it is very good.

It is a beautiful film. But soulless . The theme is generous, the actors are admirables . But you feel nothing. No emotion,no thrill . Only , at the end, the shadow of compassion. Something essential is missing. The director seems in hurry development, the love stories are just sketches , the characters are reduced to few lines. The virtue - the delicacy of unfinished stories. A delicate sketch. But nothing more.

I throughly enjoyed the book and was anxious to see the movie. Found it to be disappointing and lacking. If they had followed the story line closely to that of the book it would have been a great love story to watch unfold. The movie seemed rushed. It didn't allow you to connect to any of the characters. To understand what they were going through or how the bonds were created among a group of strangers made up of hostages and rebel group whose planned did not go at all as they had intended.

My only joy was to see Ken Watanabe cast as Mr. Hosokawa. His acting is always superb. Julienne Moore, while a wonderful actress, unfortunately, was not credible at all as Diva Roxanne Coss. She just didn't fit the description I had in my mind of the character.

I have never heard of the book this movie is taken from !

It's such an unbelievable story you have to watch it to the end. And when it's all over your first question will be -- "What"?

It's like pulling tape off a tape dispenser and suddenly you hit the end of the role and you haven't finished your project. You still need more tape!

María Mercedes Coroy and Ryo Kase are certainly the shine in this movie!

A few facts: on 17 December 1996, 14 Tupac Amaru guerillas took over the Japanese embassy in Lima, Peru, holding 700 plus people hostage. This total was quickly reduced to 72 hostages. The event lasted 126 days (!), with the result that we all know. Now out of this event, a soggy, inept movie has been made. Paul Weitz has little sense of pace and dramatic effect. The viewer is left thinking 'What does this have to do with anything?' too many times. The hostages have little individuality, are mainly interchangeable; the guerillas have vague motivations that we can only guess at. Julianne Moore and Sebastian Koch have done better work. I had the wish that they had hired Renee Fleming to play the soprano, she would have added a good deal of charm and star quality to this sad effort.