For once the venerable great late Roger Ebert have it 3/4 stars and said some really sweet things about it. His heart was totally in the right place this time.
I'm an older person and was moved beyond just tears rewatching this on Stan (Oz streaming service) a couple of decades after seeing it first. Didn't actually remember it very well, but I've loved Christian and Marisa in their younger roles and still do. Legends as far as I'm concerned.
They, along with the fabulous Rosie Perez, create magic in this film. Let more hardened critics dwell on the flaws of the film, anyone with a heart cannot fail to be moved by the sweetness, pain and authenticity of the human experience depicted here. You can see the ending coming a mile off, the metaphors regarding the human heart are a tad on the obvious side, but the incredible performances of these three at the centre of the story are so "real" and so full of "love" for the work they're doing, they're literally pouring their hearts into the characterisations. They're just pitch perfect and capture the layers and layers of the emotions so brilliantly, any flaws in the technical aspects of the film just melt away.
Let alone the Nat King Cole rhythm that bookends the film, I got hooked straightaway and stayed so all the way through. The yearnings of the human heart have rarely been communicated by popular/commercial cinema so poignantly.
A sweet, wonderful, poignant movie with oodles of heart and integrity.
Loved it. Ten stars are barely enough.
I'm an older person and was moved beyond just tears rewatching this on Stan (Oz streaming service) a couple of decades after seeing it first. Didn't actually remember it very well, but I've loved Christian and Marisa in their younger roles and still do. Legends as far as I'm concerned.
They, along with the fabulous Rosie Perez, create magic in this film. Let more hardened critics dwell on the flaws of the film, anyone with a heart cannot fail to be moved by the sweetness, pain and authenticity of the human experience depicted here. You can see the ending coming a mile off, the metaphors regarding the human heart are a tad on the obvious side, but the incredible performances of these three at the centre of the story are so "real" and so full of "love" for the work they're doing, they're literally pouring their hearts into the characterisations. They're just pitch perfect and capture the layers and layers of the emotions so brilliantly, any flaws in the technical aspects of the film just melt away.
Let alone the Nat King Cole rhythm that bookends the film, I got hooked straightaway and stayed so all the way through. The yearnings of the human heart have rarely been communicated by popular/commercial cinema so poignantly.
A sweet, wonderful, poignant movie with oodles of heart and integrity.
Loved it. Ten stars are barely enough.