Corazones Solitarios
(Lonely Hearts)
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Film Affinity escribió:
Corazones solitarios
TITULO ORIGINAL Lonely Hearts
AÑO 2006
DURACIÓN 108 min.
PAÍS EEUU
DIRECTOR Todd Robinson
GUIÓN Todd Robinson
MÚSICA Mychael Danna
FOTOGRAFÍA Peter Levy
REPARTO John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto, Scott Caan, Laura Dern
PRODUCTORA Coproducción USA-Alemania; Samuel Goldwyn Films / Roadside Attractions / Millennium Films / Equity Pictures
WEB OFICIAL
http://www.cstar.com/lonelyhearts/
GÉNERO Y CRÍTICA Thriller. Remake. Basada en hechos reales
SINOPSIS: En los años 40, Martha Beck y Raymond Fernandez formaron la pareja más buscada de América. Conocidos como 'los asesinos de corazones solitarios', amantes de la mentira, el dinero fácil y el sexo escabroso, estafaban a sus víctimas y luego las mataban brutalmente. Sus objetivos eran viudas de guerra y mujeres adineradas que tenían la mala fortuna de responder a los anuncios en prensa en los que Ray se presentaba como el amante latino ideal. En este juego mortal, Martha se hacía pasar por su hermana. Cometieron una veintena de crímenes. Lonely Hearts reconstruye estos hechos reales, a través de la historia de dos detectives de homicidios que siguen la pista a esta pareja de asesinos... (FILMAFFINITY)
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"Todd Robinson ha construido un thriller fascinante." (Ronnie Scheib: Variety)
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"Este remake bellamente fotografiado funciona mejor que la mayoría en equilibrar lo filosófico y lo visceral." (Stephen Holden: The New York Times)
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"El film, desafortunadamente, nunca a llega ser completamente vivo. (...) La intensidad de Leto y Hayek es más profunda que el guión (...) cuando ambos están en pantalla, no miras para otro lado. (...) Puntuación: **1/2 (sobre 4)." (Peter Travers: Rolling Stone)
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Remake de "Honeymoon Killers" (Los asesinos de la luna de miel, 1970). (FILMAFFINITY)
Nuevo intento de la industria norteamericana para recuperar el género negro (Film Noir), más acertado que algunas de las recientes incursiones como la de De Palma en
"The Black Dahlia".
El director y guionista, Todd Robinson, del que cabe destacar que es el nieto del policía (real) que investiga el caso -interpretado en la película por John Travolta- construye la película a través de dos historias dramáticas: La de los criminales (Leto y Hayek) y la de los investigadores (Gandolfini y Travolta -profundizando un poco más en la de este último quizás por su relación familiar con el personaje-).
Y tal vez de aquí provenga el mayor error de la película, del entrecruzamiento de dos historias que tienen dos ritmos muy distintos: El ritmo rápido y pasional del estilo de vida de los delincuentes; y el ritmo lento y oscuro de la vida del policía que los persigue.
Por lo demás, la película es una revisión más que aceptable de los crímenes de Ray Fernandez y Martha Beck, explorados (magníficamente) con anterioridad por Leonard Kastle en
The Honeymoon Killers (Los Asesinos de la Luna de Miel) y Arturo Ripstein en
Profundo Carmesí, pero sin llegar a situarse a la altura de éstas.
En resumen: un buen ejercicio de un director desconocido, prácticamente debutante en el medio, pero que a menudo cae en los tópicos del género.
Película aceptable, por encima de la media de sus contemporáneas.
Lo Mejor: Ambientación y dirección. Destacable la participación de James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) como policía compañero de Travolta.
Lo Peor: Posiblemente, el guión, que a menudo carece de la fuerza necesaria.
Por último, dejo en spoiler lo que ha escrito el propio guionista y director, Todd Robinson, en IMDB acerca de la película, basicamente defendiendo la elección de Salma Hayek como Martha Beck y aclarando algunos de los rumores que habían circulado durante la pre-producción.
- Spoiler: mostrar
- Hello,
With all the bloging going on these days, thought I’d take the opportunity to answer some questions, squelch a few rumors and make some comments on the Making of “Lonely Hearts.”
To all of the terrific people in Jacksonville and around the country who helped make this movie possible, my heartfelt thanks and gratitude.
For those of you who were on the set, you know how ambitious a project this was and if not for the great attitudes and incredible work ethic from all involved, it would never have come off.
Since the close of principal photography in Jacksonville we have been busy continuing to shoot around the country and only a few weeks ago completed the final few scenes. Editing and postproduction has been underway since June and we are currently mixing sound and music. We hope to premiere the film in the next month or so in Europe but have no U.S. release date as of yet. It could be as early as this spring or as late as the fall. I hope to bring a print to Jacksonville and do a local premier perhaps at the Florida Theatre and have been discussing this with Todd Roobin of the Jacksonville Film Commission.
As I’ve occasionally glanced at the blogs I see that the there interest about some of the casting and historical details of the film so I thought I’d take a moment to answer some questions.
Let me say in advance that it was never our intent to make “Lonely Hearts” some sort of historical record. Movies are metaphor and the story of Fernandez and Beck is rich with them. Like other movies about historical characters, say Elliot Ness and Al Capone for example, I never let the facts get in the way of story telling. It is first and foremost a movie designed to entertain, then to provoke thought and insight conversation rather than document actual events.
I was reminded of the true crime story of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck’s murderous rampage through the late 1940’s when a friend lent me a book containing the story. Reminded, because I had a personal connection to those events in that my grandfather, Elmer C. “Buster” Robinson who Travolta plays in the film, was one of the New York homicide detectives who worked the case.
I was aware that the story had been treated in film before in Leonard Kastle’s vampish “The Honeymoon Killer’s” and more recently in Arturo Ripstein’s darker fictional reworking “Deep Crimson.” Both are wonderful films, so I wasn’t sure there was anything left to add to the story.
In questioning family members about what they remembered, I was told about the circumstances surrounding my grandmother’s deathbed confession to my grandfather. She expressed her deep sadness, resentment and disappointment for a life spent with a cop, a man emotionally closed off and isolated partly by the times in which he lived, but moreover by the sad a brutal work he did. In a career that spanned more than 35 years he had worked hundreds of homicides and rarely, if ever, spoke of any of them. The secrets he kept had the unintended consequence that resulted in the deliberate death of the woman he loved and revealed a desperate loneliness and anger in her. He lived with this knowledge for the rest of his life and…it changed him.
When I heard of these events, I knew what story to tell. My grandfather and grandmother, as well as my father, were all “lonely hearts” too.
“Lonely Hearts” is what I call “historical fiction.” Working loosely with the facts of my family history and grandfather’s most salacious case, I attempt in this film to untangle the patriarchal dysfunction that has visited generations in my family (including my own) while telling the parallel story of unexplainable manipulation, deceit and murder and how the latter had a deep and lasting effect on the way my own family experienced it.
In the end the personal components of the story could have been hung on any of the many homicides my grandfather was involved with and in a way I suppose it is about all of them.
As a society we ask a lot of the men and women who defend our country, save us from fires, care for us in emergency rooms and patrol our streets. So often the effects of these careers are deep and lasting but… rarely explored. “Lonely Hearts” was an opportunity to drift into the darkness of isolation, vulnerability and unexplainable cruelty… and shine a light. It is, in a way I suppose, about the collateral effect of how what we do, has on those we love the most.
So as not to claim authorship on the actual events, I wish to acknowledge the many people in law enforcement, the courts and in corrections who all participated in the capture, conviction and execution of Fernandez and Beck. There are also the women who were victimized as well as their extended families who were all affected by the crimes as well. There are also children and families of Fernandez and Beck who all have their own stories to tell. The film does not mean to minimize or neglect any of these people. Rather, this is a movie that explores the part I know about and the way such things affected my own family.
In other treatments of the story and certainly in the contemporary accounts of the time, Martha Beck is portrayed as an obese, sex starved, desperate woman. Because of her appearance there has been a certain sideshow quality applied to her relationship with Fernandez and one experiences their relationship (and perhaps dismisses it) as a freakish train wreck of sexual deviance.
Behavioral analysis suggests deep emotional and neurological problems with both Fernandez and Beck. If it is also true that Beck was the victim of incest and sexual abuse and that these were contributing factors in her crimes, it stands to reason that her appearance could be a symptom rather than the cause in her behavior. So I saw no irrevocable reason to limit the casting to someone who was obese or unattractive. Rather, my criteria were someone who understood the character and had the courage to play her.
(Honestly, there are the two very good movies mentioned above that portay her that way. I recommend them both. However, the story didn't take place in Mexico so perhaps that nix's Deep Crimson too if it's accuracy you're after.)
Salma was cast for these and other reasons but none of them were that she even remotely resembled Beck. She knew she would take some heat and and so did I.
Salma had an overwhelming passion to play this part from her first read of the script. She was willing to go to an extremely dark and scary place within her to see what was there. Her courage and commitment was at a minimum, compelling. She was unafraid to be unlikable and unsympathetic. We talked briefly about altering her appearance but ultimately chose instead to explore her damage internally thought careful examination of the events that shaped Beck and filter that through the acting and behavior. After all, beautiful woman suffer from mental illness and are the victims of sexual abuse too and perhaps this treatment makes these issues even more accessible. The culmination is a totally dynamic and chilling portrait of narcissistic rage. In short, Salma is terrifying and maniacal in the movie. I hope that people who know the story won’t prejudice her performance with ethnicity and appearance; rather, that they experience her bold and courageous work.
Jared Leto also had very little in common with Fernandez when he first expressed interest to me about the roll of Fernandez. Arguably one of the best looking young men in Hollywood, his commitment was equal to Salma’s. When not wearing the hairpiece built for him, he sat in a make-up chair for hours having his thick, beautiful hair plucked from his head. The transformation is astonishing and few of his fans from “My So Called Life” or his Rock ‘n Roll world will recognize him.
John Travolta abandons his familiar charm and wit that usually carries him through gives, I think, one of his very best dramatic performances. He too jettisons his comfort zone to play an “everyman” (like his own father perhaps) with the weight of the world about him and wrestling with issue of culpability and responsibility. He is a wonderful person, a great storyteller and mentor to all those around him willing to listen and learn. He shared much wisdom with me and the experience of working with him was extraordinary.
As the narrative voice of the film, Jim Gandolfini was a dream. If it is even possible for him to be underrated as an actor (given Tony Soprano and his body of work) I think he may be. He’s a complete team player and his honesty as an actor is stunning. You just believe everything he says and does. Like Salma and Jared, watching John and Jim together was wonderful.
There was also Laura Dern, Scott Caan and the rest of the cast, a team of producers and artisans in every form who believed in this project and it’s been my privilege to work with you all.
The making of “Lonely Hearts” was truly an ensemble effort and never would have been possible without the dedication and talents of hundreds of people. Frankly, it has been a humbling experience. I hope you’ll all have the chance to see the film, if not in Jacksonville, in a theatre very soon.
Hope this answers some questions.
Thanks again to all of you who participated and best of luck in the New Year.
Best regards,
Todd Robinson
SaludoS,
~Teejay
De hecho, en este caso, basta con mirar el póster, que da bastante idea del género al que pertenece.
