La maldición del padre Cardona

Felix Herman knows how to tell a story. The actors tell a witty story of lust, ignorance and romance with an ample dose of traditional Latin American magical realism. Zoe Saldaña has been given the chance to carry the movie and she does so with a fearless energy that marks her as an actress who is comfortable in her skin and skillful in her craft. Freddy Beras Goico has the kind of genuine sharp humor that can't be faked; Veronica Lopez is wonderful embodying the kind of dramatic small mind everybody loves to hate. The Story takes you to a place where time stopped; you could easily be in the 1940s as you could be in the 21st century. The characters and the humor are timeless. It will be interesting to see this little known genre of film-making grow so in tune with the literature that comes out of Latin America.

This is an amusing little film, in a fun weird kind of way. I don't get the super negative reviews on this site. The movie is not high drama, and I don't think the director or actors intended it to be. It comes across as intentionally weird and tongue-in-cheek. If you don't like that kind of movie, don't bother watching it -- but if you do like movies that are a bit twisted, go for it.

Side comment: I was fascinated that the Spanish accent of rural República Dominicana is exactly the same as in Puerto Rico. I have not been out in that island's rural areas, but the accent in the capital Santo Domingo does not seem as close to Puerto Rico's. However, the RD accent in this movie was exactly the same as in PR. Seems the rural areas kept more of the accent of immigrants to these islands 400 years ago. Interesting cultural tidbit in the movie.

this has GOT to be THE worst Dominican movie EVER MADE! .... it's even embarrassing to say that i'm Dominican and that THAT movie is Dominican too, i really think this movie had a bad star with one of THE worst posters i've seen in my life, it looked like it was done in Paint, by a 5 year-old!, then the trailer came and just confused me, us, even MORE, trying to make it see like it was a comedy, or a romantic movie, hell, even a drama and some horror they threw in!!!, but no, that wasn't enough, they HAD to release it and make a BIG fuzz about it, calling it ''great, spectacular, like nothing you've seen, the best Dominican movie ever!'' and that's just a couple of things that the actors themselves said!, the movie, it's just plain wrong, the acting could NOT be any more wrong, the editing does NOT even help the movie WHATSOEVER, i mean, seriously, i don't even know what the movie is about, AND I SAW IT!!!!, the lighting was poor and the whole love thing between Zoe and the priest was just so unbelievable (and i mean that in a BAD way), so, please, oh please, avoid this movie at ALL cost!!!!

The Curse of Father Cardona is one of the worst films I've seen recently. It fails as a story, as a comedy and as a movie-watching experience. I didn't think it was downright terrible but it was far from pleasant.

The story is quite poorly put together. The first scene in the movie has no context and no substantial relation to the rest of the film. The main point seems to be giving a taste of the very bad comedy present throughout. The rest of the movie, while following a somewhat clear plot, did nothing to engage me in anything that was going on.

As mentioned, the movie is very unfunny. I'll be upfront, I'm not from the Dominican Republic and I don't speak Spanish. I watched the movie with poorly written English subtitles so there are probably things lost in translation. But the entire movie came across as trying too hard to be funny while having the opposite effect. Possibly the worst contender is Verónica López as Tulia. In every scene she's in, she's yelling something about Satan and it keeps getting less funny because there's no actual joke and the bit grinds as it goes on. You know there's a problem when the opening production logo is the only thing that makes me laugh during this comedy movie.

The filmmaking isn't special but also not the worst. The sound mixing is terrible and there is some egregious use of stock sound effects, but it's competently shot and some shots actually look kind of good.

The Curse of Father Cardona is a poor excuse of a movie that fails on almost every level. What's the most positive thing I can say? Well, as it went on, I got somewhat used to how bad it was, and it became more tolerable that way. I've seen films that were downright hard to watch due to how relentlessly awful they were, which is not the case with this movie. Probably an easy skip unless this seems like it appeals to you.

I just saw this movie while in the Dominican Republic (last week)and I was very pleased. Dominican movies are gaining quality! I hope they bring it to the US soon. I will definitely see it again. The movie is very funny, and Zoe is absolutely great, not to mention beautiful in the movie. I am so used to see Zoe in English movies and to hear her speak perfect (Dominican) Spanish was a great surprise. The movie also shows a lot of the very own culture of the Dominican countryside. The actors portray their characters very well, and the whole setting is perfect. It really brings out the essence of a Dominican small town and the beliefs of the people. They did a great job! Anyone who wants to laugh should go see this movie.