Passionada (2002)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Dan Ireland

Writers:

David Bakalar (story)
Jim Jermanok (screenplay) ...

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Drama

Tagline:

Vicky wants what's best for her mother. Charlie's close enough.

Plot:

The film is a romantic comedy about a Portuguese widow whose husband had been a fisherman who died at sea...

Cast

Jason Isaacs	...	Charles Beck
Sofia Milos	...	Celia Amonte
Emmy Rossum	...	Vicky Amonte
Theresa Russell	...	Lois Vargas
Lupe Ontiveros	...	Angelica Amonte
Seymour Cassel	...	Daniel Vargas
Chris Tardio	...	Gianni Martinez
Benjamin Mouton	...	Frankie the Pit Boss
Robert Montano	...	Father Emmanuel
Luis Colina	...	Anthony
Bill Burr	...	Blackjack Player
Russ Vigilante	...	Roberto
Anthero Montenegro	...	Joseph Amonte
George Gund	...	Fisherman
Shawn Fitzgerald	...	Blackjack Dealer

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality and a conversation about drugs.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS | DTS

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Germany:o.Al. | Sweden:Btl | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Sandyo Productions

Trivia:

The DVD includes two deleted scenes: a dance scene showing Vicky in a club an alternate ending in which Charly goes to play Poker with Russian gangsters and gets beaten up for cheating and saving Vicky (who was searching for Charly)

Goofs:

Factual errors: Most of the Portuguese ethnic and cultural references - except the 'Fado' songs (by Mísia) - are flawed: - the title is not correct - in Portuguese it would be "Apaixonada". - none of the character's names are typically Portuguese (Celia, Amonte, Angelica, Gianni Martinez) - Celia prepares a Spanish Paella for Jason - at the street parade, the song is not the Portuguese folk-song the people are dancing on the background - the dance scene is under the spell of a Brazilian Soft-Samba. - "Granny" in Portuguese is "Vovó"

Quotes:

Charlie: So, tell me about your mum. Uh, what kind of person does she normally go out with?
Vicky: No one.
Charlie: ...Good. Uh, what does she like? What is she comfortable with?
Vicky: Fish. We're fish people. We come from generations of fish people. She's comfortable with fish.
Charlie: All right, yeah. I can work with that.

Nada passion

"Passionada" is all about Milos as a beautiful Portuguese widow and cabaret singer who mourns the loss of her fisherman husband while her daughter and gambling prodigy Rossum consorts with professional card player Issacs to get good old mom out of her funk. The result is a beautifully shot film with marginally interesting characters and an uneventful story which spends most of its time with Issacs courting a reluctant Milos with his English accent and glib patter. The film wanders somewhere between romantic drama and romantic comedy not taking a firm position thereby diluting its ability to be engaging in either genre. Nonetheless, romantics and sentimentalists will appreciate this languorous but pretty film with a cosmopolitan flavor. (B-)