Dot the i DVD

director: Matthew Parkhill
writer: Matthew Parkhill

Dot the i starts one way and ends another. It leads you down one path only to sideswipe you before you hit the exit.

Gael Garcia Bernal stars as a poor but passionate man who woos the saucy Natalia Verbeke, fittingly named Carmen, from the rich and seemingly stable James D'Arcy. But let me tell you, he is no Mr. Darcy.

All is not as it seems in this film about... love? Dot the i begins sweetly enough, mainly because of the charms of the star-crossed lovers, but then veers sharply into kitschy territory. The viewer can sense all is not right and that someone, or perhaps all three parties are keeping secrets. But this secret was ironically unrealistic. The film puts in a twist for the sake of having a twist, and it inevitably feels forced.

Twist endings are fun if done correctly and believably, and the viewer was taken along for the ride instead of being thrown off. They are not so fun if trite and the common viewer is able to predict the outcome, or, as in this case, the viewer is hit from left field and feels cheated because of a lack of plausibility.

I may have completely turned you off to this film or have made you super curious. If you are going to watch this film - viewer beware.

Special features include commentary and deleted scenes.

rating: ***/***** (for Bernal and Verbeke)

recommendations: Read My Lips, Run Lola Run