Reviewers pleased with 'Passionada'
By STEVE URBON, Standard-Times senior correspondent
 

     "Passionada" boosters can breathe a sigh of relief. Whatever the ticket sales might produce, the reviewers have been mostly kind, even glowing, in their opinions of this "little" romantic comedy set in New Bedford.
The fact that it is a small, independent production has mainly worked in its favor with the critics.
"A Hollywood film based on the same script would insist on including actual sight gags, big musical cues, and tighter editing, whereas 'Passionada' is content to get by on the appeal of its actors and the power of the traditional Portuguese fado music featured throughout. The fact that it's such a small film is an intrinsic part of its charm," wrote Carlos Cavagna at aboutfilm.com.
     Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times was one of the many critics smitten with Sofia Milos. "When Sofia Milos first appears in 'Passionada,' a charming love story for adults, she has the impact of a goddess. Extraordinarily beautiful, with an aquiline nose, a full mouth and long black hair, Milos is ideally cast as Celia Amonte," he wrote.
     Few reviewers give "Passionada" the four-star treatment, and a few trashed it, such as Paul Sherman of The Boston Herald, who sneered, "There are lovelorn women, an outsider love interest (why is the guy always the outsider?), ethnic food, foreign songs and multiple happy endings you can see coming a mile away. Didn't they invent cable for movies like this?"
But more often, the film is being compared to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," the surprise word-of-mouth hit that did for Greek-Americans what "Passionada" might do for Portuguese-Americans.
Not to mention New Bedford itself. The producers of the movie have long insisted that the city is itself a main character in the movie, and the critics agree. "No small amount of the film's pleasure derives from the inspired use of New Bedford, a historic and picturesque town," wrote Mr. Thomas in The Los Angeles Times.
"The heavily Portuguese populated community of New Bedford serves as a very active backdrop to the film. It works well in framing Charlie (Jason Isaacs) as that much more of an outsider, and gives the character an added hurdle to vault in his quest to capture Celia's heart. There is palpable sense of environment here -- one of the strongest aspects of the film -- that just oozes off the screen," wrote online critic Warren Curry.
     The Daily Herald of Everett, Wash., lavished praise on the film's two "intoxicating stars" -- not Jason Isaacs or Ms. Milos, but the city and the music. Critic Robert Horton called New Bedford a "charmingly old place," and the fado music "sultry and sad."
"The film has a modest, gentle flow, carried along by the marvelous flavor of New Bedford and the appealing actors," he wrote.
     Perhaps the most effusive praise for the setting came from Charles Taylor at salon.com, who wrote, "'Passionada'… has the relaxing beauty of a great summer vacation, the kind where you don't do anything particularly special but leave feeling recharged. That feeling is present not just in the scenes you'd expect it to be -- a street fair where it seems like the entire neighborhood has turned out -- but in the way Ireland and (cinematographer Carlos) Rocha show us the suburban streets, the familiarity with which the characters go about their everyday chores.
     "New Bedford may seem like an ordinary setting, but the greatest pleasure of 'Passionada' is the way it allows you to wander those streets, taking in a new place, feeling the sun and the breeze and the spray of the ocean on your skin."
Then he took a bit of it back: "Their accomplishment is all the more impressive if you know how grungy parts of the town can be."
Overall, the movie is scoring well. As of yesterday afternoon, with nine reviews in, the movie rated an unusual 89 percent at rottentomatoes.com, a clearinghouse for movie criticism. But while most reviews are positive, most of them give "Passionada" about a C-plus, Mr. Taylor calling it, "a sunny romantic idyll."
Now, it's up to the audiences.

This story appeared on Page A1 of The Standard-Times on August 16, 2003.

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