Bel Canto admittedly sounds and looks pretty corny, but when the stars are Julianne Moore and Ken Watanabe it really doesn’t matter. The hostage drama is based on the acclaimed novel by Ann Pratchett, which drew inspiration from the Japanese embassy hostage crisis in 1996. The Oscar-winning actress plays world famous opera singer Roxanne Coss, whose voice melts the heart of a wealthy industrialist played by Watanabe.
What you have is the potential for a beautiful, well-acted love story, but what unfolds is something else entirely. The soiree in which Moore and Watanabe’s characters meet is attacked by guerrila fighters who take them and others hostage, in hopes the government will free their imprisoned comrades. Despite the terror they all face, the hostages find strength in one another and form unexpected relationships, with Roxane’s voice binding them together.
Paul Weitz, best known for About a Boy and Mozart in the Jungle, directed and co-wrote the script with Anthony Weintraub. Sebastian Koch, Christopher Lambert, Ryo Kase, Tenoch Huerta, and María Mercedes Coroy co-star.
Corny or not, it’s a story that has won millions of fans across the globe, even being adapted into an opera in 2015. That’s why I find the release schedule a bit perplexing. Bel Canto will hit theater on September 14th, then move to VOD a week later.
