Best movie of this year hands down!

That was an excellent one.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I must admit first that I worked on this film..My one fear was that we could'not do it justice..The incredible genius of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 'Magical realism'... One never knows even as we dress the sets and struggle with that expression.. Having waited a few months I viewed the film...Apart from a few personal bloops..I felt that Mike Newell did a great job..That all those journeys we made accompanied by body guards was worthwhile... I was proud of what we achieved ...I think it is a film to see NOT having read the book..but worthwhile nevertheless.. This would be my final film at almost 80....I felt it was a fitting exit..

This was such a poorly done film. Having read (and loved) the book, watching this was torture for me. I felt like it had the potential to be a great film, but the majority of the acting was just mediocre. The rhythm of the film just did not work. The script was poorly done. None of the soul of the book was in this film. A couple of the actors' talent was evident. I got the Impression that Javier Bardem was possibly the only cast member who unterstood his character and the story (perhaps he read the book?). Aside from a couple of exceptions, the rest were not at their best in this film. I'll stop now before I write a thousand word rant.Just, disappointing.

Adapted from the Gabriel García Márquez novel, this is the story of Florentino as a young man in 1879 Columbia who falls in love at first sight to Fermina Daza. Her family would keep them apart, and he begins a life of sexual relationships with many women.I have not read the novel, but I assume it is a romantic epic. I just think it is probably too epic to put it all on film. At over 2 hours, this thing is a rambling melodrama. Although Javier Bardem is a great actor, I wonder if aging up Unax Ugalde would have been better. They don't really come off as the same guy. Maybe they could glue on a beard on Unax. Also the use of English really takes away the power of this as an Spanish language novel. The use of so many non-Spanish actors like Liev Schreiber and even John Leguizamo who isn't much of a Spanish speaker really dilutes the atmosphere. There is almost a cheesy feeling to this Mike Newell production.

Books can be good or bad, what counts in a film are the characters and the visual impact as the script unfolds. This is a glorious movie, the star is not the book but Cartagena, the landscape and a time frame, revealed in the costumes, the production, the streets and buildings, the intimacy of the interiors of a diversity of dwellings. As much as I love the literature of García Márquez and adored the book it only provides the essential premise, which is totally machismo and completely tongue in cheek. Only a male would assert the purity of heart of another male, who has seduced or been seduced by 622 women while preserving his unblemished love for an inaccessible childhood sweetheart. Good casting, good direction, wonderful music. This is a great movie experience.