Hechizo de luna

This movie is brilliant in every way. It touches on the complexities of loving relationships in a meaningful way, but never lectures. The script never condescends toward any character, not even the hapless Johnny. It also and benefits from spot-on direction, production design, casting, and performances. The fact that Cher is so perfect in the film and is more unlike "Cher" than she has ever been is a wonder to me. I watch Moonstruck at least once a year and I just viewed it again this Christmas eve with my 16 year old twin daughters and they loved it as well. It has something for everyone with a heart and leaves you filled with joy in the end.

The romantic comedy Moonstruck is directed by Norman Jewison and stars Cher and Nicolas Cage. The film takes place in modern day Brooklyn.

The film starts off with Loretta Castoroni (Cher) in a restaurant with Johnny Cammareri (Aiello). Johnny proposes to Loretta and after a bunch of little jokes she agrees to it. Loretta was married once before but her husband was killed by a bus. She claims that she had bad luck because they did not have a proper marriage and she wants it to be so that this time everything goes just right. Loretta lives with her mother and father, as well as her grandfather. She also sees her aunt and uncle very often because they as well live in Brooklyn. Johnny goes to Sicily to be with her on her deathbed and gives Loretta the task of contacting his brother, Ronny (Cage), and inviting him to the wedding. The two brothers have not spoken to each other for five years so Loretta has to patch up their relationship. Well when she goes to see him she doesn't do anything to help patch that relationship up...

The screenplay for this film was very good from John Patrick Shanley and he won an Oscar for it. Loretta was a very real character which is always great because an audience can't relate to a main character that seems fake. He did a great job of creating a family vibe and getting a lot of very smart and funny dialogue in the script. Ronny Cammareri was an over the top character yet in a way he added much to the plot because Loretta was so real and down to Earth. Overall a very well written script and a classic romantic comedy.

The direction of the film was fine as well. Jewison had many memorable shots throughout the film, such as when Loretta went to confession how only the priest's hands were shown of his and nothing else. Also, I liked how the framing of the shot of Loretta and Ronny looking at the moon, it just had a classic feel to it. Jewison did an excellent job working with his actors since two of them received Oscars the one was nominated. He as well deserved the Oscar nomination that he received.

The acting in the film was also very good. Cher gave an excellent performance as Loretta and it is very memorable. She is definitely one of the most talented entertainers out there to be such a great singer and a great actress. What was great about her performance I thought was her eye movement. It was just brilliant the way she looked at the other actors. Nicolas Cage was a little over the top but he needed to be because his character was. His performance does not really show any range, but his career is still young and as it grows he proves that he is as well a great actor. Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis gave marvelous performances as well as Loretta's mother and father. Gardenia was a very over the top kind of man that was kind of a stock character of a Brooklyn father but he did a fine job as the role. Dukakis was basically an older version of Loretta and played the part as well as Cher. A finely acted film.

Overall I give this film a very strong 7/10 because romantic comedies aren't really my favorite genre, but this is one of the best ones out there. I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of romantic comedies.

Maybe we should be committed, but my husband and I have memorized virtually the entire movie. Neither of us has ever been so in love with a film. The reason this movie "struck" us so I think is because it illuminates the human heart at it's romantic best. Not to mention that there is a line in this movie appropriate for almost any of life's experiences. I don't know how we would get through a day without it! I guess we truly are lunatics! Ha. Perhaps in our love relationships, we should see one another in the romantic glow given off by the bella luna. I can't pick a favorite line, but the scene when Loretta first confronts Ronnie in the bakery is powerful, moving, and Nicolas Cage at his very best "I ain't no monument to justice!...". Also, when he walks her to his place in the freezing cold and tells her "we're not here to make things perfect. We are here to ruin ourselves and love the wrong people..." Permission to be passionate and flawed.

Trivia-Did you know that the second slap Loretta gives Ronnie when she tells him to "snap out of it!" was impromptu, and that they both cracked up after that and filmed the rest of that scene struggling not to burst out laughing?

People call this Cher's movie, but Olympia Dukakis makes it for me. It's under her roof that I heard some of my favorite dialogue in the movies.

I am not a violent person, but "Old man . . . you give those dogs another piece of my meat and I'll kick ya til ya dead!" has got to be on my top ten list of memorable quotes.

I like the conversations around this family's kitchen table maybe because growing up, meals in my house were pretty silent even though there were seven of us. Funny that it took an Irish screenwriter to capture the Italian cadences. These people aren't caricatures of Italians or any other ethnicity, they are just a vocal family.

In another time, with just a few changes in the script, this story could have been high operatic drama. But it's not. It's a romantic comedy not a tragedy - even though it contains elements of tragedy - death under a bus, a lost limb, betrayal of marriage vows, and misinterpretations and misunderstandings.

But these characters TALK about what's on their minds. You want to know where the Met is located? You ask your hairdresser. You think your husband is flirting with another woman? You tell him that while you're both working behind the wine counter - in front of a customer. You're mad at your brother, you want to know why men need more than one woman, you want your son to pay for the wedding of his only daughter? If you really want to know, if you really want results or answers, you speak up!

Besides movies based on Agatha Christie novels, it is rare that a story ends with bringing the entire cast together more satisfyingly than "Moonstruck." The morning-after-the-opera scene in Rose Castorini's sunny kitchen with all the characters present is one that I can watch again and again. "You've got a love-bite on yer neck - your life's goin down the toilet!" "I want you to stop seeing her" "Who are we waiting for?" "Johnny Cammarari" "You're a part of the family!"

No matter what sort of table you grew up around, rent or buy this movie.

And remember, "No matter what you're gonna do you gonna die, just like everybody else!"

This and When Harry met Sally, have got to be some of my fave romantic comedies of all time. The plot is great and simple to follow, the acting is good from Cher (gasp here) and Nic Cage is on top form as the slightly weird brother of Danny Aiello (also great, very funny)with the wooden hand! I can't really explain what it is about this film that makes it so great .... there's just too much. The wonderful atmosphere, the delightful acting, the great comedy on offer, or the great romance!

I know this review is short, however all I have to say is get your girlfriend/boyfriend to sit down on the warm snug sofa one moon lit night and sit and watch this delightful romantic comedy, probably one of the best of all time.

9 out of 10.