'Love in the Time of Cholera:' One of the year's best films

"Love in the Time of Cholera" is one of those extraordinary films that is better than 90 percent of the films released this year and yet is not as good as it could have been.

So to a judge a film on it's own merit, which is the right thing to do (though sometimes the wrong thing to do), "Love in the Time of Cholera" has aspirations which it is unable to meet. This failure has somehow made the whole less than its parts.

Maybe it was a little too ambitious for its own good. Taken from the book of the same title by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "Love in the Time of Cholera" might have worked better as a much longer miniseries -- though I cringe at the tragic thought of turning the Nobel Prize winner into the author of a soap opera.

Many books have been written about the books of Marquez, and trying to impart any sense of his storytelling skills in a short film review might be just as silly as trying to make a two-hour film from one of his books. He writes in a style called "magic realism"; making a realistic film without the "magic" just might be the issue.

But that's not to say the film is bad or that it's a misfire. Again, judging the film on its own merits, it's a wonderful love story that is at times funny, tragic and sad. I liked the film immensely and vigorously recommend it; how many ways can you tell the "Boy meets girl, boy loses girl" story? "Love in the Time of Cholera" has found another new way.

"Love in the Time of Cholera" is at its core a very simple story; the poor Florentino (Javier Bardem) and the rich Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno) fall madly in love, but through differences in class are kept apart by Fermina's father. They write to each other in secret, and Florentino promises to wait for her. When Fermina gives in to her father's wishes and accepts her place in society, she dismisses Florentino and marries a wealthy doctor. Florentino is devastated and devotes his life to business and carnal pleasures. Though his adulterous escapades help heal the pain of losing his greatest love, he does not marry and will wait as long as necessary for Fermina to come back to him.

A great writer, not to mention a great published story, will have major issues when brought to screen. The film will always have to fight for its independence; the argument should be about bringing it to screen, not whether the film is as good as the book. It'll always be different and usually not as good. But that's the book's problem.

The film "Love in the Time of Cholera" is one of the better films of the year.