Forever Mine

Rating:
Summary: Fiennes and Mol Light Up the Screen
Review: I watched Forever Mine last night and thought it was a pretty decent essay of an extramarital affair. We begin in the 1970's where Alan (Fiennes) is working at a swank hotel as a cabana boy. When he sees Ella, played by Mol, he falls instantly in love with her. The problem is she's married to a lowlife businessman (Ray Liotta, in full scumbag mode). They begin an affair which results in Alan getting disfigured from Liotta's goons and left for dead. Now it's 1987 and Alan is returning for revenge.

The dialogue is very cliche heavy, with dreamy declarations of love between Ella and Alan. But I thought that Fiennes and Mol were believable as the doomed duo. Liotta has got to stop playing the heavy. After seeing Heartbreakers and Blow, I know he's an amazing actor who can do so much more.

Rating:
Summary: Forever mine? Let's hope not!
Review: Nice to see the Fiennes people here at work!

As far as 'Forever Mine' being a love story, well, there's no mistake there! 'Forever Mine' is like American Gigolo, meets Scar Face, meets the English Patient. OY! What a mess! And far less stylish I might ad. The plot has holes too large to fill in with roving tanks. And the dialogue! Double OY! (Paraphrasing here) "....Do you want this marriage to work..."? I wasn't sure if whether Liotta wanted the marriage to work with that line! "...Remember the night we walked for blocks in the snow because we couldn't get a taxi"? Huh? Some of Fiennes' lines were just as dreadful!

There was a comment about miscasting and Fiennes not being convincing enough to be taken seriously in the role that smitten out of the blue cabana boy/turned thug deviously driven by love and revenge. He is actually too nice, given "the nature of the beast". I don't know that Fiennes was truly miscast, it might simply have been direction. I don't know who is at fault.

I do have some good things to say. Fiennes' American accent is very good considering many British actors don't fair well with them. And the Cuban accent didn't seem to come off too badly. However, someone of Cuban background might prove a better judge. Ray Liotta is consistant. (Don't ask me what I meant by that) Gretchen Mol is fine considering what she had to work with.

While I can appreciate Mr. Fiennes as a good actor with enormous potential, it's probably a good, no wait, a GREAT thing 'Shakespeare In Love' hit the big screen before this one hit the little one! I agree with one of the other reviewers, that Fiennes' talent (along with the other actors) is wasted! An actor really never knows exactly what kind of mess he's gotten himself into until mid-way through or the finished product. Who knew?!

I remember reading stories that Schrader had difficulties in getting 'Forever Mine' to the big screen, it's just as well. I can forgive them this trespass, but I certainly can't defend this!

One other thing. Who was responsible for the makeup job regarding Fiennes'disfigurement? Whoa! Tight budget?

Rating:
Summary: This movie is lush, mesmerizing...for some reason, I love it
Review: The music, the lighting, the chemistry... I taped it when it was on TV, but will buy it when it is finally available on DVD. I'm usually a skeptical movie-watcher, and there are some lines here that others will call cheesy, but I think these superb actors make them believable. At one point, Ray Liotta says to Joseph Fiennes' over-the-top romantic character: "What is this gibberish? Nobody talks like this!" As a viewer, I was thinking the same thing, but believing in Fiennes' character nonetheless, and that scene made the character even more believable.

Gretchen Mol is lovely. The scene where she reads "Madame Bovary" to the elderly is so poignant...it's a shame this movie's distribution fell apart, because she deserved to be seen in this.

This is one of those movies I find myself watching again. Someone on salon.com did a great review of it...still available if you do a search for "salon" "forever mine".

Rating:
Summary: Fiennes Sleep Walks
Review: through this movie. Not much to recomend here. The girl is attractive and Liota adds a little spark to a mundane movie. But Fiennes seems to lack the charisma or the intensity to carrey off this role. I disagree with the other reviews which state that he is the only reason to watch this movie. I feel Liota is starting to grow as as actor. He seems to be adding a little bit more to his charcter; instead of acting like he is in a complete rage. I hope he gets better parts and continue to grow. I enjoy a good mystery; they seem to be few and far between. I feel the writing of script's has been below par for years. This is a movie that needed a good script. It is not a all out action movie; once again the writing does not measure up. And those who like a good mystery are left wanting and wondering when they will be treated to a good movie of this type.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully shot, but been here before.
Review: Unfulfilled beautiful wife of powerful rich man falls for a passionate but poor cabana boy at a luxury resort hotel. Jealous husband finds out about affair, ultimately choosing a violent conclusion to the drama. A "road well travelled" movie that is often nice to look at (especially Gretchen Mol) but ultimately fails with a strong sense of having "been there before". Ray Liotta as the jealous husband effectively sleepwalks through his role - effective because he's a natural at playing the "prick." Gretchen Mol is convincing as the beautiful wife torn between passion and comfort as long as she doesn't speak. Joseph Fiennes is actually quite effective and believable as the obsessively romantic cabana boy but does not quite succeed in making the transition to powerful gangster during the second half of the film. FOREVER MINE begins with a quote from Philosopher critic Walter Pater, "It is the addition of strangeness to beauty that constitutes the romantic character in art." Fiennes as the cabana boy seems to emulate Pater's philosophical reverence for "the moment" as the ultimate truth, and the film is most effective in this realm. When director Schrader changes direction midway, from picturesque romantic drama to revenge suspense, the film looses its magic and "the moment" is lost.

Rating:
Summary: OK movie, but why this accent?
Review: When I was thinking about ordering this movie on DVD I somehow doubted ist quality since "Forever Mine" was never released theatrically in the USA. But after reading several reports about it I kinda liked the storyline although it's nothing special: man and woman fall in love with each other, sadly she's married so they break up, he follows her, the husband get's angry and attempts to kill his rival. Another reason for me to buy this movie was the fact that the cast includes Ray Liotta, who's definitely one of the most talented and underrated actors in recent movie history.

"Forever Mine" starts extremely well (though I didn't like the opening credits) with beautiful locations and elegant direction but sadly Paul Schrader reduces the pace in the middle of the movie. For this reason you may need some patience to sit through this section. Another weakness is Joseph Fieness' accent. In my opinion it's simply too over the top and appears to be exaggerated and artificial. Don't get me wrong: I'm just an average German who learned English at school, maybe I'm wrong about this (please correct me if you think so) but his strange accent (at some points) almost ruined the movie for me. Still Fiennes' performance is quite OK (as long as you don't think about the accent) but he doesn't stand achance against beautiful and sexy Gretchen Mol (sadly her haircut looks awful in "Forever Mine") and especially Ray Liotta who's terrific in his usual bad guy role.

Thus "Forever Mine" is a nicely shot and well-acted movie though its only two weaknesses (slow moving center section, Fiennes' strange accent) might be crucial for some people.