Woman On Top

(2000, USA) 
Director: Fina Torres and Thierry Arbogast 
Starring: Penelope Cruz ; Harold Perrineau, Jr. 

Working culinary magic at the Brazilian seaside restaurant of husband Toninho (Murilo Benicio), chef Isabella (Penelope Cruz) runs away to California after finding him in bed with another woman. Moving in with transsexual best friend Monica (Harold Perrineau, Jr.), Isabella quickly makes a new life for herself, hosting a quickly rising TV cooking show. Most romantic comedies require a certain suspension of disbelief, but the filmmakers hardly fret about character inconsistencies or plot contrivances because this is meant as pure fantasy. There are incantations and spells to the gods, and a bead of Cruz's perspiration has the power to make flowers bloom. In the hands of lesser talents, this could have been sheer hokum, but the delightful cast makes this a very tasty treat. 

This is a "fairy" tale in every sense of the word, from its magical elements to the gay characters and San Francisco setting. There is even a Rastafarian lesbian cabdriver who acts as something of a fairy godmother, appearing magically and dispensing pearls of wisdom whenever Cruz needs to go somewhere. Cruz played the AIDS-infected nun in Pedro Almodovar's Oscar-winning All About My Mother. 

--Q Syndicate

Source : Obtained from Planetout.Com