Bella
Alejandro Gomez Monteverde’s romance-free love story was a slow-burning, under-the-skin movie that played like a fly on the wall documentary of modern poetry.
Two very damaged souls, Nina and Jose, connect over the course of a single day and the seemingly banal facets of life like family, listening, work, children and the heart and soul of a city are the backdrop to their burgeoning relationship.
There’s no antagonist but the world itself and the effects of chance it forces on Nina and Jose, and though nothing is really solved or figured out in the course of the day, the film is more about the healing nature of just being still and having someone to listen to.
The extras are slight, with short interviews and a making of, and a short featurette that showcases star Eduardo Verástegui, apparently a hunky rock star in his native Mexico, mobbed by screaming girls wherever he goes. He describes wanting to leave all the selfish trappings of fame behind and do something worthy with his talent and it feels a mite staged, without nearly the honesty of the film itself.