It was supposed to rain all day so I decided to rent lots & lots of movies (5 movies, to be more precise). I watched three of them today and that was probably more than enough for one day!

The first movie was The Five Senses. It was ok, not too great, but it had its interesting moments. Some of the ways that the director worked the five senses into the movie were nice and subtle but others were a little too obvious, like the eye doctor who’s going deaf.

I then watched An Affair of Love (Une Liaison d’Amour) and was very pleasantly surprised. I had read some reviews which lead me to believe that the movie was mostly about sex but that wasn’t at all true. Apparently, the original title was “Une Liaison Pornographique” and the director had chosen that title to make a funny commentary on the fact that there was nothing pornographic about the movie. I highly recommend watching this movie.

Finally, I made myself sit through Woman on Top. The movie was so bad that I read somewhere that Brazilian critics were completely embarrassed after its screening at the Cannes Festival. Since I am not a movie critic, I won’t review this movie for its cinematographic aspects. But as a Brazilian, here is my list of why this movie sucked:

1. I was happy to see that Penelope Cruz was in the movie, she’s very beautiful as well as a good actress. But she had a Spanish accent when she’s supposed to be playing a Brazilian! She couldn’t even pronounce some Portuguese words!
2. All Brazilians in this movie spoke English, even the fishermen!
3. Everyone in Brazil seemed to be dressed like Carmen Miranda!
4. Isabella’s husband is played by a cheesy Brazilian soap opera actor.
5. The drag queen (who was the best character in the movie, as cliché as it was) didn’t seem to have a job and was able to afford an apartment in San Francisco. Hah!
6. Finally, the director, who’s obviously not Brazilian, tried to imitate “Like Water for Chocolate” and failed miserably.

The Five Senses

Gre Middleton (Cinematographer). New Line Home Video 1999, DVD, $24.98

An Affair of Love

New Line Home Video 1999, DVD, $24.98

Woman on Top

20th Century Fox 2000, DVD, $9.98

Like Water for Chocolate

Walt Disney Video 1993, DVD, $9.99

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