It has been a long wait for another film from Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore after his successful CINEMA PARADISO and EVERBODY’S FINE.  Following several flops such as the epic STORY OF 1900 and MALENA, AN UNKNOWN WOMAN is a worthy return of a director known for his sentiment, nostalgia and melodramatics.  AN UNKNOWN WOMAN contains elements of his past films, but at least Tornatore is in more control in his story of a woman with a terrible abused past.

Filmmaking writer/director Wachowski Brothers (Andy and Larry) take the kids family film to a new cheesy high – and that is not necessarily a bad thing.  Looking back at their successful MATRIX movies, the trilogy was nothing more than glossy high stylized cheesiness.  Even the Christina Ricci character bears an uncanny resemblance to the Jennifer Tilly lesbian heroine in their first crime hit BOUND.

In the middle of the film, the character Joy pulls away a sticker from her husband’s shirt reading ‘Joy’s B____’ and sticks it behind the dress of her colleague competitor for her promotion (who will undoubtedly be truly her b____ if Joy wins the position).  Much can be said of this scene, as it a hilarious moment though not much connected with propelling the main story of the film.  WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS is mostly hilarious with bouts of inspirational humor but its love tale as stale as last week’s loaf of bread.

L’homme…. La mer… Le difference.. grave et triste (man; the sea; the difference between sad and serious)… these are a few of the musings, arguments and love talk uttered by the two couples in French auteur Philippe Garrel’s film take on life and love.

The paradise referred to in the film’s title is a stretch of beautiful beach called Punta del Este in the South American country of Uruguay.  The story involves a Canadian Alex Johnson (Jeff Roop), stranded there (for a while) but he is about to marry the beautiful but quirky Uruguayan beauty queen, Veronica (Patricia Wolf).  More humour is brought into what can be described as a madcap romance when Alex’s bickering parents Al (Nicholas Campbell) and Barbara (Maria Del Mar) drop in as well.