'Bella' aims for the tear ducts, and misses

• Alejandro Monteverde's manipulative, wannabe feel-good drama "Bella" punches all the right buttons when it comes to playing upon our emotions, but I didn't buy any of its contrived setups and its convenient ending, complete with beat-you-over-the-head symbolism.

This film stars Eduardo Verástegui as Jose, a cook who abandons his post at a New York City restaurant owned by his demanding brother Manny (Manny Perez) so he can give moral support to a young waitress and would-be actress named Nina (Tammy Blanchard), upset because she discovers she's pregnant.

Jose has a calamity in his past, one ladled out to us in a series of flashbacks, and that event has changed him from being a self-centered world-famous soccer star into a meek Mexican-American cook with a new-found sense of humbleness and humanity.

As Nina contemplates other options besides becoming a mother -- which means abortion -- Jose steps into her life and ultimately convinces her to have the baby.

But not until she spends a day with Jose's wonderful, salt-of-the-earth parents (Jaime Terelli and Angelica Aragon), who are so decent and loving, how could anyone contemplate not giving new life to the world?

"Bella" is awash in good intentions, but its characters -- captured in blah compositions and TV-production-quality camera work -- come off as dramatic types instead of flesh-and-blood people.

Properly done, the ending of this movie should have inspired lots of sniffles and hankies.

Here, that'll only happen if viewers walk into theaters with a cold.

"Bella" opens today at area theaters. Rated PG-13 (disturbing images). 91 minutes. 2 1/2 stars

• Steven Sawalich's "The Music Within" comes off as sort of a low-budget "Born on the Fourth of July," made to order for a cable channel.

Characters constantly divulge their emotions and the actors playing them seldom, if ever, connect on the big screen.

This fact-based drama wraps itself in the self-importance of standing up for the disabled, but accomplishes it with such little finesse that it fails to generate the passion and conviction its characters are supposed to possess.

Former Chicago actor Ron Livingston stars as Richard Pimentel, a glib young man whose intended career path takes a detour when his college plans don't work out and he enlists for a tour of duty in Vietnam.

An explosion knocks out his hearing, so he returns to his Oregon home and heroically takes up the cause for the disabled, eventually resulting in the passage of the controversial Americans With Disabilities Act.

Michael Sheen supplies comic pathos as Art, an intellectual cerebral palsy patient who wields obscene humor as a blunt instrument when dealing with discrimination and rejection.

"The Music Within" opens today at the River East 21 in Chicago. Rated R (drug use, language). 93 minutes. 2 stars

• In "Control," the sumptuous, shimmering patina of well-composed black-and-white cinematography elevates a standard, tragic biopic about another self-destructive rock martyr with a tormented soul.

Here, that would be Ian Curtis (Sam Riley), lead singer of the post-punk band Joy Division from the 1970s. Former cinematographer Anton Corbijn directs this drama with grit and sympathy as it delves into Curtis' rocky marriage to Debbie Curtis (a dowdy but thoroughly engaging Samantha Morton), his bouts with substance abuse and epileptic fits, and his open affair with a Belgian fan named Annik Honore (an exotic Alexandra Maria Lara).

Riley imbues Curtis with aching vulnerability and confusion that add up to a troubled, poetically enigmatic figure whose fate, as well as persona, echoes that of Jim Morrison, lead singer of the Doors.

"Control" tells a tragic story that neither deifies nor demonizes its main character, but reveals him as a flawed human whose painful regret at his choices proves to be his Achilles' heel.

"Control" opens today at the Music Box, Chicago. Rated R (language, sexual situations). 121 minutes. 3 stars

• "Irving Renquist, Ghost Hunter," produced by CNGM Pictures (founded by several graduates of Fremd High School in Palatine), will be screened at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Hotel Indigo, 920 E. Northwest Hwy., Palatine. The title says it all. Tickets cost $30 ($15 for students). Call (312) 278-3117 or go to www.irvingrenquist.com.

• Wes Anderson's 13-minute short film "Hotel Chevalier," featuring Jason Schwartzman and a startlingly naked Natalie Portman, will be added to showings of "The Darjeeling Limited" (...) starting today. The short is a prequel of sorts to "Limited," the story of three brothers (Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Schwartzman) who take a train to self-discovery in India.

• "Vietnam, Long Time Coming," a doc by Chicago filmmaker Gordon Quinn, will be presented at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Geneva History Center, 113 S. Third St ., Geneva. Quinn will hold a Q&A after the film, about a 1998 bike tour uniting former enemies the Vietcong and American soldiers. This movie previews the Geneva Film Festival slated for Nov. 10. Admission costs $5. To book reservations, go to http://thor.geneva.il.us:8080/form/kfdw.asp or call (630) 232-8171.

• Attention "Star Trek" geekazoids! Digitally remastered episodes of "Star Trek: The Original Series" will be beamed onto screens of local theaters Nov. 13 (7:30 p.m.) and Nov. 15 (7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.) in Cinema Surround Sound and high definition. "The Menagerie" (both parts) will be shown in its original 1:1.33 TV format. Tickets cost $12.50 and can be purchased at theaters or at www.FathomEvents.com. Check the Daily Herald movie ads for venues and show times.