Sunsets Dominate Romance

   What's the most romantic time of day? The sunset. What's a fantastic romantic story? Like Water For Chocolate. It only makes sense that these two wonderful things would combine for one wonderful film.

   There's no arguing that sunsets aren't romantic, but what's that have to do with the film? You may ask. Well, if you didn't notice, any chance there is to get a shot of the beautiful sunset, it's taken. However, there is only one sunset per day, so that means the opportunities were limited. To make up for those limited opportunities a very dominant shade of orange/red is pasted over just about every shot to keep that "sunset" vibe going strong. It's a strategy very similar to that of American Beauty with the solid color of red. Far less subliminal than American Beauty, Like Water For Chocolate still accomplishes the same thing. By applying this special color the viewer feels a certain emotion without anything actually happening within the film. Blue would be that of sadness, yellow/orange: joy, and red would be romance. So, it only makes sense that a film layered with colors of orange and red would belong in a romantic fairytale of a film. It’s not a technique that’s used as heavily as in Like Water For Chocolate, but it’s typically used to some degree in every film.

  Overall, Like Water For Chocolate truly is a lovely film that stands the test of time, being over twenty years old, on behalf of a few things. Those few things being the film’s magical plot, tantalizing romance, and intelligent use of color. With so many lackluster romantic films coming out these days, all one has to do is just fly back a few decades and resurface this classic.