Bel Canto (2001) Review

What a sense of humor one would need to believe that the woman you love is not in Tokyo or Paris or New York or Athens... The woman you love puts her gun beside a blue gravy boat at night so that you can teach her to read. She came into your life through an air-conditioning vent and how she will leave is the question that keeps you awake in the few free moments you have to sleep.

The one sentence premise is that of an thriller: a birthday party centered around the guest performance of a famous opera singer is invaded by hostage takers; but their true target, the country's president, is not in attendance. However, if you expect John McClane to pop up out of the guestlist, you're deep into the wrong book.

Unburdened from the seemingly prima-facia question of how these people will escape, Bel Canto is free to tunnel with dreamy ease into the humor and romance of the single home these dozens of humans are trapped in over the course of months.

Of course, the thing about a dream is that the time always comes in which one must wake up, whether one wants to or not.