pablopaz

I liked Mark Ruffalo a lot and both siblings' roles were well done. I just don't understand people who make choices like that and why they make them. "The unexamined life is not worth living." But Terry's predicament seemed more credible to me. Sammy is hardly the model of verisimilitude. And I agree with the reviewer who said Bryan the bank manager was over the top! Still, i've seen people like both of them in many parts of the world. Not just floating but not yet drowning either. What will happen to that poor boy? That's the real cliff-hanger. I don't know if he'll grow up to be a great pool-player. What a goal!

Unfortunately, because of US viewers' tendency to shun subtitles, this movie has not received the distribution nor attention it merits. Its subtle themes of belonging, identity, racial relations and especially how colonialism harms all parties, transcend the obvious dramatic tensions, the nostalgic memories of the protaganiste's childhood, and the exoticism of her relationship with her parents' "houseboy," perhaps the only "real" human she knows. We won't even look at her mother's relationship with this elegant man. There! i hope i've given you enough of a hook to take it in, whether you speak French or like subtitles or not. I challenge you to be as brave, strong and aware as La P'tite.

Formalismo is an integral part of both Hispanic culture and gypsy/flamenco culture. It is inherent in this dance-drama within a movie. You must willingly suspend disbelief in the realistic sets set on an obvious dance stage with scrimmed and lighted backdrops. Likewise to accept the plot, you must suspend disbelief in phantom lovers, duels for honor, and happy-ever-after endings -- although be forwarned that the ending of this Bewitched Love (a better translation than the usual "Love, the Magician", altho' there are at least three other ways to interpret the ambiguous Spanish title words) can be understood only as a comedy, or comedie noire. The action, singing and dancing are compressed into the lines of flamenco dances as tightly as pure emotion can be condensed into a sonnet, or any other strict form, and yet they transcend with the freedom of the gypsy spirit, if you but open yourself to the experience. The first of Saura's great dance movies.