MovieChat Forums > Bella Martha (2002) Discussion > remake or half baked...??

remake or half baked...??

posted 16 years ago by c-ho
5 replies | jump to latest

I watched Bella Martha tonight. I came across it at the DVD shop and having not known anything about it, except that it was screening at a food and film festival and the price tag said $7.95, I bought it. It was totally enjoyable. Gredeck is totally convincing as a top chef and even more so as a coming of age older woman. One week prior, I saw No Reservations for sale at the shop. I knew nothing about the film except who played the 2 main leads, and that it would highly likely be cheesy and shallow. I didn't buy it.

After watching Bella Martha I was highly amused to find that No Reservations was a remake of Bella Martha and that I'd not made the connection earlier. Having not seen the remake, I'm reluctant to pass judgement and having just seen Bella Martha it looks to stay that way. If anyone should think otherwise, I'm all ears.

[–] alvink 16 years ago

if 'bella martha' is a thoughtfully nuanced film, you indeed might not like 'no reservations'.

for instance, the whole part about 'a coming of age [of an] older woman' is completely missing from the re-make, which is what one could expect from a hollywoodish re-make.

yet there are other touches- i laughed and laughed when the obsessive cook fixed a dish for her therapist: he kept wanting to dig into it- she kept wanting to make it 'more perfect' (showing, of course, that 'more perfect' is an oxymoron). small things.

i enjoyed 'yin shi nan nu' and it's re-make, 'tortilla soup'. even though they are not the same movie, i feel richer for having seen them both.

i guess i'm just a sucker for movies that are made in a kitchen. 'american cuisine', anyone? 42

[–] SeisCinemaSeis 15 years ago

I have watched both films: the original and the remake. I only regret about having watched one of them, and it's NOT the original german version

[–] chicago85 12 years ago

The Hollywood version was okay but had a typical happy ending leaving no doubt to the future.

[–] emncaity 10 years ago

Years later...I hope you didn't waste your time.

[–] NouvelleVague85 9 years ago

In my opinion Abigail Breslin is the only good thing about No Reservations, and only because she's so damn cute. Zeta-Jones and Eckhardt simply doesn't live up to Gedeck and Castellitto.