Writer/Director of Bella, Alejandro Gomez Monteverde has, like his compatriot Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu (21 Grams) a really cool name. They also make really good films that are interested in the constructing of characters who aren’t extraordinary.

These character studies can centre around more dramatic fare such as in Iñárritu’s gun odyssey Babel, but they’re still just concerned with ordinary people dealing with life. With Bella Monteverde deals with a less overtly dramatic situation and with a much warmer tone, but the construction and feeling are similar.

After discovering she’s pregnant, waitress Nina (Tammy Blanchard, The Good Shepherd) arrives at work late for the second day in a row. There she finds her boss Manny (Manny Perez, Rescue Me) unforgiving, and despite having worked in the restaurant for four years she’s handed her things from her locker without being allowed inside. The restaurant’s taciturn chef Jose (Eduardo Verástegui) witnesses this and feels compelled to find out why she was late and follows her.

They begin a conversation as Jose follows Nina into the subway and Jose fails to return to work. They wander the streets of New York, suddenly finding each other despite having worked in the same place for a long time. Jose resembles a Jesus-like figure, with long unkempt beard, but we journey back to see that not so long ago he was a clean-shaven soccer star on his way to begin a multimillion dollar contract.

There’s a real warmth and a real sadness to these characters, who both have tough emotional armor built up to protect them, but who desire to be set free from their own confines nonetheless. Monteverde draws performances that are genuine and natural from the entire cast, with Blanchard and Verástegui excellent as they explore an intimate chemistry that is tender rather than sexual.

The winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, Bella is a simple tale of people accepting their past and finding the strength to move forward with their lives.

Bella rates 3 1/2 stars