By: debbie lynn elias
Often when I leave a screening room, I am filled with a sadness knowing that the average moviegoer will bypass or overlook a smaller more obscure film when looking for a weekend’s box office entertainment. Such is the case with BELLA. Bittersweet, charming, tender and surprising, BELLA is a shining jewel. Like a small diamond hiding amongst the flashier stones in the jewelry store window, BELLA catches your eye just enough to grab your attention, but then, even as you try to look at the bigger and brighter stones, this little gem just commands your attention, drawing you ever closer until you must buy it. Already the Audience Award Winner at the Toronto International Film Festival, inspired by a true story, BELLA is that little gem.
Soccer playing Jose is on the verge of international stardom, multi-million dollar contracts and all the trappings of endorsements, the likes of which Beckham now commands. He is unstoppable. An immigrant, he lives in New York City with his family. Soccer has been, and is his whole life. Handsome, sexy and soon to be rich, he loves his life, is adored by his fans, particularly children, but more importantly, he loves and appreciates his family, fans and friends. So, it’s no surprise when on the morning of the biggest deal of his career, Jose takes time out to kick around a ball with the neighborhood kids and even offer to have the ball signed by the whole team. But that’s one promise Jose won’t be able to keep as tragedy strikes that changes his life forever.
Fast forward to present day. A bedraggled, heavily bearded seemingly unkempt man is sitting on a beach on the Atlantic, staring into the horizon and watching a group of little girls playing. Appearing taken with one of them, frightened parents hustle their children away from him leaving the one girl, alone, dancing in the sand. But as we look as intently as the man as he is at the child and the horizon, it is clear that this is Jose. Hiding behind a mask of hair one immediately wonders what happened to him.
But appearances can be deceiving and thankfully in this case they are for as we quickly find out, Jose is not a homeless lech, he is now working as head chef for his brother Manny in Manny’s upscale and extremely popular Manhattan-based Mexican restaurant. Not that today is any different than any other day or that Manny is any different than his usual intolerant egomaniacal, money-grubbing self, but today Manny is in a lather over an international soccer team coming to his restaurant. Priding himself on promptness, neatness and precision, Manny is completely blind to his staff, who they are, what they do. Some have worked for him for years yet he doesn’t know whether they have children or travel on 4 buses to come to work. He doesn’t want to hear an excuse as to why Nina is late to work for the third day this week. He only cares that she is late. Locking her out of the restaurant and then unceremoniously firing her on the street, Manny has his assistant bring her belongings outside from her locker.
Jose, on the other hand, wears his heart on his sleeve. With a kind heart and gentleness that makes you wonder about genetics, Jose leaves the restaurant and takes off after Nina. He knows her. He senses that something is wrong. She works too hard, as do all the restaurant staff, to intentionally lose her job. As it turns out, Nina has just found out she is pregnant. Morning sickness and buying a home pregnancy test caused her tardiness.
Realizing that Nina needs friendship and comfort more than Manny needs a chef, Jose embraces the day and showers Nina with selfless love and kindness that will change her life, and his, forever; but not without facing the past, the present and the future.
Eduardo Verastegui, a Mexican pop sensation as a solo artist and member of the internationally successful group Kairo, Verastegui is also a familiar face as a model, one of the kings of the Mexican telenovela and known to American audiences for his work in “Charmed”, “CSI: Miami” and “Chasing Papi”. As Jose, to describe his performance as captivating, is an understatement. Believing so much in this project that he dons a producer’s hat as well, Verastegui has an undeniable sensitivity and nuanced vulnerability that commands not only the screen, but your heart as you are enveloped in his life, his sorrow and his jubilation. Being bearded for 90% of the film forces one to look into his eyes as he weaves his Svengali-like spell. One of the few actors who speaks volumes with just his eyes, he is perfect as the tacitly humble Jose. And ironically, Verastegui is no stranger to the kitchen so being cast as a chef came as second nature. Tammy Blanchard, recently seen in “The Good Shep
herd” and known best as the young Judy Garland in “Me and My Shadows: Life with Judy Garland”, was the first actress to read for the part of Nina. Knowing that she could convey the loss, brokenness and confusion of the character, she was adamant that the part be hers. Thankfully, director Alejandro Monteverde felt the same way. As Nina, Blanchard is impeccable as a “lost lamb” found by a shepherd who fills her with life and hope. She gives Nina a hardened vulnerability that so many of us feel but can never share and ultimately makes you as the audience feel hope.
If there’s a dramatic tv show out there that Manny Perez hasn’t appeared on, I want to know which one it is. From his recurring role on “Third Watch” to various incarnations of “Law & Order”, here he tackles the frenetic insensitive Manny. Oozing contemptibility with his slicked back hair and waxed Errol Flynn moustache, despite the character’s flaws, Perez elicits sympathy – plus you just want someone to slap him upside his head. And his chemistry with Verastegui is undeniably brotherly. Ali Landry had a tough job on her hands nabbing the role of Celia, a mother with a little girl in Jose’s past. Then dating director Monteverde (now married
to him), she prepared her own audition tape and essentially “wowed” the producers with her emotional performance. I have never seen here pack this much raw and diverse emotional punch in a role.
Written by Alejandro Monteverde together with Patrick Million, impressive is not enough of a description for this script. Concentrating on the central characters of Jose and Nina, the dialogue has a natural easy flow and progresses in its depth and personal disclosure in the natural course of a day. Particularly impressive are the dramatic edges and surprising revelations that fall neatly into the gentleness of the day without appearing forced or out of place. The devotion and attention paid to family, friendship and love is refreshing and beautiful. Character development is particularly strong not just with the principles, but in the smaller yet pivotal roles that provide the groundwork for Jose and Nina. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see an original screenplay nomination for Monteverde and Million come Oscar time.
Also serving as first time director, Monteverde shot the film in 24 days, 6 pages a day (a well above average schedule), and in numerous Manhattan locations, including the famous Il Campanello restaurant on West 31st Street, Rockaway Beach, Belle Harbor, Queens and Brooklyn. An ambitious endeavor to say the least. But this ambition didn’t detract from the result. Well paced with well placed melodramatic themes, Monteverde let his actors indelible performances and dialogue tell the story and uses visuals to set the stage. The city became the backdrop to this beautiful story as opposed to the story taking second fiddle to the visuals. With a keen eye, he doesn’t pander to the obvious, and his timing and precision, particularly when it comes to the character of Jose and the importance of eye contact, is flawless.
Shining its own special glow, BELLA is about family, friendship, tragedy, joy and the undeniable healing power of love and touches on the humanness and need in us all.
Eduardo Verastegui – Jose
Tammy Blanchard – Nina
Manny Perez – Manny
Ali Landry – Celia
Directed by Alejandro Monteverde. Written by Monteverde and Patrick Million. Rated PG-13. (91 min)
