The Man Who Cried (2000)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Great Film overall

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The Man Who Cried has one of the most grand musical scores I've ever heard in a film, and this is coming from someone who is not a fan of opera. Each piece is deep and moving and adds richness to the film. Unfortunately, the cast does not quite deliver as well. Ricci gives a valiant performance as the heroine; however, her accent slips noticeably many times, detracting from the authenticity. The filmmaker would have done well to go with a British actress instead.Depp's talent as a character actor was wasted in this film. As a love interest he was rather cold and aloof; there was a distinct lack of chemistry between him and Ricci. The problem wasn't that his character had relatively few lines, but that combined with few actions aside from some equestrian stunts led for a wooden performance from Depp, through no fault of his own. Unlike the wide range of body language he was allowed in Benny and Joon, this uninspired role gave him no chance to shine.In contrast, Turturro does an excellent job of portraying the talented, but arrogant and snobby Dante. His singing voice (I assume it was not dubbed)is captivating and unparralleled. Likewise, Blanchett delivered a believable performance as the likable but misguided Lola, and engages the audience in alternately being disappointed in and feeling sorry for her. Her Russian accent was convincing and felt natural.Overall I quite enjoyed this film, I just wish the acting had been as rich as the music.

This was truly an up the middle movie. It started out really good but when Christina Ricci's character started her career it became really awful really fast. I liked Cate Blanchett's character but not her Russian accent. (Egads, that sucked lemons!) I liked John Turturro performance but I have to laugh when I think about the one seen where he was in the church. (He looked like he was giving himself the finger lol.) I don't know if Cate was not into him or John wasn't in to her or if it it was suppose to look like that but their lovemaking scenes weren't that great. I mean they were OK but not great. Johnny Depp was boring though he did capture intense a couple of times he really missed the passion train. Here he was playing a gypsy and he had absolutely no fire. He didn't turn me on at all and I'm not saying it to be mean or that I'm some great catch. His love-making scenes were rigid. He had no connection with Ricci's character. I have never seen anyone make sex look so boring in all my life. I did like the story,though it was uneven. I hated the death scene but loved the reuniting. I hope Johnny Depp never reads this thing.

This film wasted the talents of several terrific actors; most notably, John Turtorro, Cate Blanchette, Johnny Depp and Harry Dean Stanton. Christina Ricci was serviceable, but was probably miscast. The direction/editing I found very choppy which made the film difficult to follow as it marred the pacing. It appears that the budgeting did not take into account spending adequate money or time on the editing portion of the film. I also felt that the plot was erratic and never fully developed characters as it should have. Cate Blanchette as Lola turned in her typical great acting with a flawless Russian accent, but it was difficult to know where she fit into the larger plot at times. Turturro's character was sort of a caricature of an Opera Diva and he was laughable at times especially when protesting being upstaged by horses. Overall the film was visually well done but fell flat in substance.

I found this movie very compelling to watch in every way--except for the plot. I've submitted this comment to thank the poster who cleared up my confusion about who sang, and who lipped-synced. I thought the tenor voice was beautiful, and Ms.Ricchi (she made it clear in the movie that she never had any formal training) sounded sincere and feminine. The non-verbal relationship between C. and Johnny seemed believable and appropriate for two such marginalized social misfits. I would like to see them together in a less serious movie, because I think they ha great chemistry together. Since this is such a character driven movie, I'll close by saying that Ms. Blanchett was wonderful, but that I couldn't relate to Mr. T. being an opera singer. He just "looks" and has too many mannerisms that scream Italian-American. P.S. This is a good review--but it wasn't submitted by me"kinbc" in Canada. It is now Dec. 9th, so the rightful owner has probably moved on--now to find the Review that I did post...Kinbc