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Perfil falso (2023)
Terrible!
I was glad when it was finally over, but completely mortified that it has been renewed for a second season. Terrible plot, unlikeable characters, terrible writing, terrible, terrible! No character to root for at all, even to the very end. Also the charaters felt more driven by the plot and it's was one (cringe) thing after another. The sex, the killing, the nudity, the sex was all just for shock value.
Considering this is a Latin American/Columbian produced show it has borrowed some of the typical telenovela troupes: handsome, beautiful cast with gorgeous bodies and muscles, evil rich people, villains, blackmail, sex, secrets, poisoning, kidnapping etc, but the outcome is a bad blending of all this because it's also too cramped, and even though its not a traditional story but modern exploring online dating, it all feels forced just for ratings and shock value.
I would rather recommend a traditional telenovela that goes for 100 plus episodes; there are some that are really good, and some telenovelas are bad but entertaining, but some are just bad. But this hybrid of a show has produced an bad outcome. What some of the characters did was just to drive the plot, and the actions of the characters made no sense at all.
Imperio de mentiras (2020)
A poor version of Black Money Love
When I heard that Televisa was doing a remake of Kara Para Ask (Black Money Love), a superb Turkish dezi, I was a bit anxious about how the story would turn out. But so far, I have been disappointed. I understand that the writers tried to make the story their own and contextualize it to Mexico (replacing jewellery trafficking from the Turkish version with trafficking of antique Pre-Hispanic Mexican art) but this adaptation is bad, and cannot stand against the original which was far better in many ways.
One of the things that I noticed is how the interaction between the characters and their implication to the plot has really been watered down here. For instance, the Dario character in the original was an anti-heroine and he proved to be a match for his father, but in this version, the character is not as compelling a match to stand up and take revenge against is father. I also didn't like how some characters have been adapted in this version (Teresa, Piedad). Another thing is the relationship between Leonardo and his brother which doesn't look strong at all here (so that the eventual truth of the betrayal has more impact later on), so sometimes, the viewer is left to fill in gaps in terms of character motives and back stories, and how theier actions affect those around them, especially if you watched the Turkish version. Most importantly, the chemistry between Leonardo and Elisa is not there at all, and cannot be compared with the great love of Elif and Omer in the Turkish version, a love that was believable, made you root for them as the protagonists, and a love that could defeat all odds. In Imperio, the romance does not inspire at all.
I love Giselle Gonzalez because I feel that she is the most creative and daring producer to come out of Televisa in recent years with her different style of story-telling that is raw, almost authentic, non-traditional, and trying to think outside the box (I really loved her previous telenovelas Yo no creo en los hombres, La candidata) but with this one, it is a total miss.
Amor secreto (2015)
Decent effort from Venevison
Today, people hardly talk about Venezuelan telenovelas. While they were once the most popular all over the world (even more than the Mexican ones), today very few productions come out of that country. This is due to political factors, such as the 2007 closure of Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) when the Chavez government refused to renew its license, thereby removing it out of air. This reduced production levels by half, and many actors, writers and producers moved to other countries, robbing Venezuela of talent. The remaining stations like Venevision began producing only one telenovela per year with other channels opting to air foreign productions since they didn't have the resources to produce a whole novela.
Amor secreto, based on the 1990 telenovela "Ines Duarte, Secretaria" tells the story of Irene Gutierrez who works for Leonardo Ferrandiz, the widowed CEO of one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Venezuela. Irene is secretly in love with her boss, but he hardly notices her since he is engaged to Alejandra Altamirano, the beautiful, fashionable, blonde Human Resources Director at the company. Well, her luck changes when Leonardo uncovers Alejandra's past relationship with Rodrigo, his sworn enemy. At first, Leonardo sees Irene as the best person to take care of his home and his 5 kids since she knows him so well. But after getting to know her, he falls in love with her. But as usual, everyone is opposed to their relationship as Alejandra cannot accept that Leonardo left her to marry his secretary. At the mansion, Augustina, Leonardo's sister- in-law, controls the house and her sister's kids with a strict hand while also trying to preserve the memory of her dead sister. She sees the entrance of Irene as an intrusion on her sister's memory.
This show follows the usual telenovela rosa style to much success I say. The villains such as Alejandra and Augustina try everything possible to humiliate Irene and her family. Of course, the took liberties with the original version and modernized it.
This is the second telenovela Venevision produced in HD after "Los secretos de Lucia" showing a marked improvement in their production values because the attention to detail is well done and the way the camera shots are also framed, as compared to previous productions which appeared cheaply made with minimal investment. The economic situation that has affected Venezuela was also visible in their telenovelas and while other countries had moved to HD, stations such as Venevision began producing in HD a little bit late. But it is good to see that despite the obstacles, they still continue producing telenovelas in Venezuela.
One thing that stands out are the dialogues. The telenovela seems to have been playing on safe ground, and its clear in the scenes in order to avoid going against the "Ley de Resorte" which is simply a media law the government implemented as a form of censorship. So writers have to be careful not to show certain story lines, and this has also made Venezuelan telenovelas stop being daring as they used to. But the dialogues here are very witty, and it enabled the actors to play their characters well without resorting to exaggerations like it sometimes happens in Mexican telenovelas. The villains use sarcasm, well crafted insults and threats and wit and aren't over- the-top as would be expected in a telenovela. The acting is well done, especially for newbies like former Miss Earth Alexandra Braun whose first foray into telenovelas is playing the villain Alejandra to perfection. Then there is journalist and TV host Caterina Valentino who appears later in the story as Leonardo's deceased wife. These two I think stole the show with their scenes and villainy. Plus Leonardo's small kids always had something funny to say, I loved their scenes also.
In general, I found this entertaining, Augustina always conversing with her sister's photo and her crazy outbursts always cracked me up!I do hope that the political situation in Venezuela improves so that they can continue producing entertaining telenovelas such as this one.
Siempre tuya Acapulco (2014)
Same old, tired, cliché story
Siempre Tuya Acapulco is written by Alberto Gomez, a Venezuelan writer known for telenovelas with similar trite story lines and characters (Secreto de Amor, Gata Salvaje, Rebeca, Angel Rebelde, Accoralada, Alma Indomable). This is no better, using the most used telenovela rosa storyline: A poor, simple yet beautiful woman (Olvido) falls in love with rich, handsome Diego (Elbitar), they get married, and since she has never ever had a boyfriend or been kissed, she later ends up pregnant and ends up working at Diego's mansion where his ex- girlfriend Iran and her mom do everything possible to make her life a living hell. She later finds her real birth father who dies and leaves her a huge fortune. In typical telenovela style, the villains try to rob her of her fortune and make her suffer until the end where she can finally be happy.
Although this is an original story, the problem is that we have seen this same storyline so many times before. It's like a bad mash-up of Thalia's Maria trilogy being presented in a different way while borrowing all the telenovela troupes one can find. This story just does not work in this century, and some things don't make sense. Why would Olvido allow herself to be trampled on by the villains all the time? That her Aunt completely denied her an education for so many years, then she later becomes a CEO making huge decisions is just unbelievable! Then there is the whole being locked up in a mental asylum and tortured. The villains are cartoonish (as are all Gomez villains in his telenovelas) and are one dimensional and exaggerated. The storyline line might follow the classic novela style, and some might find it entertaining, but this cenicienta story lines are just not realistic anymore. I think with his next telenovela, Alberto Gomez needs to me more innovative with his writing because there are good telenovelas out there that still use the same telenovela troupes but are being innovative with the way the characters and action is being presented.