Cleopatra – A Life’s Journey
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: D Film: C
Can one do a road movie built around a soap opera? Roberto (Hector Alterio) and Cleopatra
(Norma Aleandro) have martial problems and she is fed up with him enough to
want to work on a popular soap opera.
Sandra (Natalia Oreiro) already works on the show, and has similar
problems with the producer Francis, who is her controlling and oafish
boyfriend. Eduardo Mignogna’s Cleopatra
– A Life’s Journey (2003) attempts to tell both concurring stories and make
a point.
This wants to be a comedy, and make some serious points,
but the melodrama in the script is just too much and sabotages what feels like
a junior Thelma & Louise without any edge. Not that I wanted the women to go crazy and start robbing people,
but this does give room for a different kind of character study. Too bad it never pays off. The acting is good, but the film never lives
up to the promise of them or its name.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is credited as
being shot by Marcelo Camorino, A.D.F., but also is credited to the director
and Silvina Chague on the DVD box. They
may be the writers, but the credits are actually unclear on this. Either way, it is not as sharp or clear as
expected for a new production, despite some good shooting with Fuji stock. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is fair, which is
the only sound format it was released theatrically. DTS would not have improved a film with too much talk. The only extra is a trailer for this and another
film in this wave of Fox’s Cinema Latino series, which has offered much
better. Only the curious should apply.
- Nicholas Sheffo
