Demasiado Amor

Demasiado Amor is a beautifully photographed, offbeat romantic comedy. The beautiful locations in Mexico are photographed by Gabriel Figueroa Jr., a second generation cinematographer. His father, Gabriel Sr., worked in the Mexican film industry for 55 years as a cinematographer, living to the ripe old age of 90. He photographed a few American movies as well, including Two Mules for Sister Sara and The Night of the Iguana. Demasiado Amor is the first film from Gabriel Jr, so it will be a while before he passes his dad's total of 195.

The film follows two sisters, Beatriz and Laura, who are nurturing a childhood dream to go to another country, set up a bed-and-breakfast, and live off the income. One day they decide that one of them must go to Spain and get the project started. They leave it to a coin-flip. Laura leaves. Beatriz, in her loneliness, begins to live three different lives and three different dreams. On the one hand, she still dreams of joining her sister in Spain, She also accepts the attentions of many lovers. Finally, she searches for and dreams about an elusive true love. In the course of the movie, Beatriz discovers more about herself, and realizes that she belongs in Mexico, on her own.

NUDITY REPORT

At various times, Karini Gidi shows

her buns
full-frontal lower body
her right breast in its entirely
both breasts with the nipples covered by rose petals

I think it is only available at Blockbuster (rental only) as of this writing. Unfortunately, only a 4:3 version is available.

The soundtrack includes the hit song "Acaríciame", which was recorded for the film by the Mexican superstar Julieta Venegas.

The Critics Vote

No major reviews online.

It was nominated for three Ariel Awards (Mexican Academy Awards). Supporting actor, actress, adapted screenplay.

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 5.7/10

I read that it was a hit in Mexico, but I couldn't find any quantification. Its box office was negligible in Spain.

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this film is a C+. It looks beautiful. It is a good film of its type, but be forewarned that it is a romantic comedy in Mexican Spanish with subtitles. If those things don't scare you off, it's a pretty good little movie with some beautiful nudity as well.