Broken Lullaby (1994)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Great Film overall

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This film was only worth watching for the beautiful locations, which earned my 2 star vote. The story was totally unrealistic. I know it's a bit of a fantasy mystery/romance, but it just lacked little touches that would have made it so much better. Everybody that the heroine met with spoke English perfectly, 9 times out of 10 with an American accent! The arriving/living/researching in a strange country seemed to go remarkably smoothly, no trying to find her way about, struggling with unfamiliar money or language. Every time they went to the train station the train was there! No difficulty trying to work out the timetable. Public phones were within a few yards whenever one was needed (pre-mobile phone days....). The genealogical research was accomplished relatively easily - none of the paperwork was illegible, or in a difficult Cyrillic script, so the heroine found what she wanted within a few hours of searching (yeah right.... like that would happen!). The characters were 2 dimensional rubbish and not at all realistic. Yes, I know it's fantasy, but you need decent acting and lifelike emotions to draw you into the story. 3 people have been strangled - no sign of stress or fear from Jordan and Nick. They get shot at while on the balcony of their hotel - they don't move to a different hotel or anything - a few hours later they're back on the balcony, not a care in the world! Twice Nick tackles the gunman when he knows he's armed and dangerous - foolhardy heroics from an art expert, methinks. And did I say that the acting is more like a first read through? Very poor direction..... it could have been a good film, but sadly it fell far too short.

I admit to having a soft spot for "Broken Lullaby." It's an interesting if complicated story, filmed in Budapest. There's also romance.An elderly cosmetics queen (Vivian Reis) asks her niece Jordan (Mel Harris), a genealogist, to trace her family - now a widow, she feels time is passing and she would like to know more about her roots. She only has a picture of a little girl next to a magnificent music box, which, it turns out, was made by Faberge.Jordan travels to Europe and finds out that the box is highly prized and sought after by several people: a count (Oliver Tobias), a young man (Rob Stewart) who feels the music box belonged to his family, and one other person who seemingly will stop at nothing, including murder, to get what he wants. Jordan doesn't know whom to trust.The story takes us to Vienna, though the credits say it was only filmed in Budapest. The scenery is very beautiful, and the acting is fine. The problem is, it's not particularly well directed. As someone pointed out, with a complicated story, a film like this needs a stronger structure.I haven't seen many other Harlequin films; I think this story is a cut above, and certainly had a decent budget. I recommend it.

The plot was quite interesting, with the Russian revolution background. I also enjoyed seeing Budapest as the movie was partly filmed there. Sadly, there was zero chemistry between the 2 main characters so it was hard to believe the love story between them. The love scenes were forced and mechanical. Jordan kirckland was really stiff, almost icy. Rob Stewart was quite charming and boyish, so she looked like his older sister rather than his girlfriend. The ending, when we finally figure out who was actually after them, was quite weak and made no sense whatsoever. I think I would have enjoyed this movie a lot better if the relationship between the 2 actors was slightly more credible.

I originally had no interest in the plot when I read it. I only watched Broken Lullaby because the DVD was available in my library and I wanted to see what Harlequin TV movie was like since I bought Diamond Girl and So Hard to Forget (which I am still waiting for and will review as soon as I watch it.) POSSIBLE SPOILERS First off I thought the heroine was a little too hard looking for me. She had a tough girl/strong woman to her. The hero was definitely good loooking and charming however I didn't feel any romantic chemistry between the two. The love scenes just seemed forced. And like I said, the heroine just seemed too "strong" for the hero. I guess the characters in A Matter of Marriage had more of a chemistry (even though I didn't think so at first) than Broken Lullaby. The pacing once again was fast/not boring which was great. I had no problems there. Otherwise, I am STILL glad I watched this movie because I love/used to love Harlequin romance novels when I was a kid. So when my other two dvds arrive, I'll definitely (Id better!) be blown away. As usual, will review Diamond Girl and So Hard to Forget as soon as it comes.