I HATED, HATED, HATED this movie. One of the worst I've ever seen in my life.
First off, This whole "Man and Woman have a romantic experience based on conversation over the course of a short time" thing has become a subgenre in and of itself. And within the last 5 years, there's been 3 major masterpieces in that "Subgenre", Sofia Coppola's "Lost In Translation", Richard Linklater's "Before Sunset", and John Carney's "Once" (From Greatest to Least). All 3 of them accomplish the basic elements "Bella" was trying to accomplish in leaps and spades.
Secondly, the acting, my God. The leads had chemistry like oil and water, and I found myself completely unable to sympathize with either. The acting was atrocious ("Once" managed to pull wonderful performances out of 2 folk singers, so you can't really say it was good for people who aren't consummate actors, it was just very, very bad.) And if you are going to watch a movie about people talking, you have to like the two of them. I was wondering when I was going to get away from these people. Probably because hanging out with them is so unbelievably depressing.
Which leads me into the third aspect, the predictable script. It had none of "Lost in Translation" 's Hope, None of "Sunset" 's Joy, and none of "Once" 's originality. It was entirely unimaginative, maudlin, and entirely manipulative. I say manipulative because "Bella" falls into the pitfall that has plagued so many movies in this decade, the need to have a message, and be oh so preachy with it. I don't like being hit with a sledgehammer by a film's message, whether it's a good one or a bad one.
My best friend's parents told me I needed to see this post-haste, and they're still mad that I wasn't absolutely crazy about it. I realize it's a hit on the festival circuit, but I've rarely been so disgusted by a movie.
