While obviously the big HBO series that everyone is following right now is The Penguin, that ends tomorrow and there will be a hole to fill in the service’s line-up. And while I would not expect this just-released miniseries to get a fraction of the buzz, Like Water for Chocolate is arriving as an HBO original with a perfect 100% critic score, as of right now.
The miniseries is an adaptation of Mexican author’s Laura Esquivel’s 1989 novel. It has already been adapted into a film once back in 1992 starring Lumi Cavazos and Marco Leonardi, among others. At the time, it was the highest-grossing foreign language film in the US.
Now, the book has been made into a 2024 miniseries here on HBO which stars Irene Azuela and Louis David Horné in the romantic drama. Here’s the synopsis for the series, which takes place in the early 1900s:
Love defies duty and tradition in this powerful adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s novel chronicling a complicated and timeless romance.
The first episode is out now, and it will be released weekly from here. While you may not recognize the cast, you will no doubt know the big name behind getting this project made, Salma Hayek, who previously spoke about the adaptation:
“I’m proud of it and I just want everyone to watch it,” she says. “I hope that the show inspires (viewers) to do everything with presence and joy, and to not forget to celebrate some of those wonderful lessons in life we take for granted, or to take things like food, family, the people that support us, for granted.”
Hayek produced the series, and said she has spent six years trying to get it made, showing how tough Hollywood can be, no matter your star power. She explains how the story resonated with her
“It’s about women trying to take their destinies by their hands and empower themselves,” Hayek said. “It’s about a complex relationship with tradition and the fear of disappointing our parents. It’s funny, sensual, and beautiful and a great love story of forbidden love – for the most ridiculous reasons – but the weight it has at that time and place is intense.”
So far, so good. A perfect 100% critic score, and while there’s no percentage for audiences yet, the series has a quite good 7.7/10 on IMDB, solid in the context of that site. We will see how the numbers change, or don’t, as more reviews roll in, but this seems like a great new offering on HBO to watch for the next six weeks.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
