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Loving Pablo
2017 123 min Bulgaria, Spain R 18+
★5.8
Crime, Drama
Director: Fernando León de Aranoa
🎭 Based on
«Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar»
byVirginia Vallejo De Escobar
Trailers
Description
The film chronicles the rise and fall of the world's most feared drug lord Pablo Escobar and his volatile love affair with Colombia's most famous journalist Virginia Vallejo throughout a reign of terror that tore a country apart.
Budget:
$4.67M
US Gross:
$22,017
Worldwide:
$17.54M
Starring
Javier Bardem
Actor
Penélope Cruz
Actor
Peter Sarsgaard
Actor
Awards
Goya Awards 2018
— Best Actor
Goya Awards 2018
— Best Actress
Key opinion
Loving Pablo is widely criticized for its fragmented, superficial narrative that fails to provide a cohesive or insightful portrait of Pablo Escobar's life. While Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz are recognized as talented leads, their performances are largely undermined by a disjointed script and the decision to film in English, which many viewers find distracting and inauthentic.
| Acting | Javier Bardem's physical transformation and performance are often cited as the film's most watchable element, though some critics argue the characterization remains one-dimensional and lacks depth. | |
| Adaptation | The choice to film the production in English, despite the Colombian setting and casting of Spanish actors, feels artificial and significantly undermines the film's intended sense of cultural authenticity. | |
| Screenplay | The screenplay is heavily criticized for its rushed, episodic nature, which skips essential character development and context, rendering the protagonist's actions unpredictable and unmotivated. | |
| Pacing | The film's pacing is viewed as disjointed; it sprints through historical events with a superficiality that leaves the audience feeling detached from the narrative and its emotional stakes. | |
| Emotion | The portrayal of the central relationship between Vallejo and Escobar is divisive, with some finding it a compelling 'beauty and the beast' tragic melodrama and others dismissing it as a clichéd, soap-opera-like sub-plot. |