Maldeamores (2007)

Directors:

Carlitos Ruiz Ruiz
Mariem Pérez Riera (co-director)

Writers:

Jorge Gonzales (writer)
Carlitos Ruiz Ruiz (writer)

Release Date:

September 2007 (Puerto Rico)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A three-part look at the ironies of love, with stories that involve a young boy, a hostage situation, and a divorced elderly couple caught in a love triangle. |

Awards:

5 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Luis Guzmán	...	Ismael
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marisé Alvarez	...	Neyshalí
Miguel Ángel Álvarez	...	Pellín
Silvia Brito	...	Flora
Yaraní del Valle	...	Luisa
Ednali Figueroa	...	Tati
Luis Gonzaga	...	Miguel
Teresa Hernández	...	Lourdes
Chavito Marrero	...	Cirilo
Dolores Pedro	...	Marta
Carlitos Ruiz Ruiz	...	Guy arguing on car
Norman Santiago	...	Macho
Fernando Tarrazo	...	Ismaelito

Also Known As:

Lovesickness (USA) (festival title)
Maladies of Love (USA) (literal English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some sexual content and a violent situation.

Country:

Puerto Rico | USA

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R

Filming Locations:

Aguadilla, Puerto Rico

Company:

Buena Onda

Trivia:

Puerto Rico's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).

Any Love is better than No love.

To go and say that this movie was a love story is being ethereal to the most delicate degree. This movie was many things as it unfolds with a rich sense of captivity. Taking the viewer on a ride that only a Puerto Rican can plot out (The cast is enriched with Puerto Ricans). It took a few deep breaths to fully digest the amount of dissonant dialogue, by all means it was bearable but at times it was shocking. No one can write this type of storytelling. Obviously Carlito Ruiz Ruiz got it right with precision. The film explores love on it's most obverse levels, by exploring love throughout age, rage, immense tragedy, psychosis, and of course humor. These different palettes create an exuberant amount of depth, body, and twisted sense of the word. It is definitely a family oriented film with so many references to Puerto Rican culture that you just want to throw some 'chanclas' on and hit the 'playa'. The themes of ancestry are doused with gasoline and set ablaze with trepidation. You feel what it's like to a part of the inner circle. The problematic circle is not that love is reciprocal but that the action exists and we cannot coexist if that understanding is discernible. A true gem amongst Latin gems. I hold this film in high accord with Innaritu's masterpieces.