Country: USA
Year: 1999
Duration: 126'
Theresa Osborne, a researcher and journalist whose husband has left her, finds a bottle on a beach; inside is a love letter addressed to a woman named Catherine. Sensing a story, she proposes to her newspaper that she write an article about it, which sparks the curiosity of readers and convinces her to search for the author of the letter. She finds him in a town in North Carolina and learns about him and his love for his deceased wife, the Catherine in the letter. And, of course, she falls in love with him. A melodrama based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks, pleasingly over-the-top and tear-jerking, starring the splendid duo Robin Wright-Kevin Costner and with the almost protective presence of Paul Newman, who plays the protagonist’s elderly father.
Biography
film director
Luis Mandoki
(Mexico City, 1954), student of fine arts in his city he pursued his interest at the San Francisco Art Institute and the London College of Printing. While attending the London International Film School, he directed his first short film, Silent Music, which won a major award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1976. He returned to Mexico to direct several short films and documentaries for the Instituto Nacional Indigenista, and Centro de Produccion de Cortometraje. In 1980, he won the Ariel Award, the Mexico's Oscar, for his short film El secreto. His first feature, Motel, was chosen to represent Mexico in five film festivals. He gained worldwide attention in 1987 thanks to Gaby, A True Story, the poignant study of a writer coping with cerebral palsy, which starred Norma Aleandro, Liv Ullmann, Robert Loggia and Rachel Levin. The film received two Golden Globe Award nominations and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Aleandro. After the success of the film, Mandoki’s career evolved to become one of Hollywood's foremost filmmakers, best known for his ability to direct actors. His first American feature was White Palace (1990), with Susan Sarandon and James Spader, followed by Born Yesterday (1991), with Melanie Griffith and John Goodman, When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), with Meg Ryan and Andy García, and Message in a Bottle, with Kevin Costner, Robin Wright-Penn and Paul Newman, Angel Eyes (2000), with Jennifer Lopez and James Caveziel, Trapped (2001), with Charlize Theron, Kevin Bacon and Dakota Fanning. In 2004 he decided to go back to Mexico to direct Voces inocentes, with which he won the Crystal Bear at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival, and the Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild of America. In 2011 he directed the feature film La Vida Precoz y Breve de Sabina Rivas. In 2022 his film Presencias has been selected the Festival.
FILMOGRAFIA
Silent Music (cm, 1976), Mundo mágico (cm, 1980), Campeche, un estado de ánimo (cm, 1980), El secreto (cm, 1980), Papaloapan (cm, 1982), Motel (cm, 1984), Gaby: A True Story (Gaby - Una storia vera 1987), The Edge (tv, 1989), White Palace (Calda emozione, 1990), Born Yesterday (Nata ieri, 1993), When a Man Loves a Woman (Amarsi, 1994), Message in a Bottle (Le parole che non ti ho detto, 1999), Amazing Grace (2000), Meeting Genevieve (2000), Angel Eyes (Angel Eyes - Occhi d'angelo, 2001), Trapped (24 ore, 2002), Voces inocentes (I figli della guerra, 2004), ¿Quién es el Sr. López? (2006), Fraude: México 2006 (2007), La vida precoz y breve de Sabina Rivas (2012), Dancing with Sancho Panza (2018), Presencias (2022).
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Luis Mandoki. STORY: from the novel by Nicholas Sparks. SCREENPLYA: Gerald Di Pego. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Caleb Deschanel. FILM EDITING: Steven Weisberg. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Jeffrey Beecroft, Steve Saklad, Dorree Cooper. COSTUME DESIGN: Bernie Pollack. MUSIC: Gabriel Yared. CAST: Kevin Costner, Robin Wright, Paul Newman, John Savage, Illeana Douglas, Robbie Coltrane, Jesse James, Bethel Leslie, Tom Aldredge, Raphael Sbarge, Richard Hamilton. PRODUCTION: Kevin Costner, Jim Wilson, Denise Di Novi per Warner Bros. Pictures, Bel Air Entertainment, Di Novi Pictures, Tig Productions.
CONTACT: Park Circus www.parkcircus.com
