synopsis : wealthy cuban landowner luis ( banderas ) gets more than he bargained for when he sends away for an american bride . not only does his new wife turn out to be the beautiful julia ( jolie ) , she also harbours a secret past of dubious merit . soon , julia has absconded with both luis' fortune and his heart , and as he pursues his wife through the cuban underworld , luis begins to realise that , for him , there is no turning back . review : <NEG> given the absurdism of its would-be plot </NEG> , it's unlikely that " original sin " could have been turned into a reputable piece of filmmaking , regardless of writer , director or stars . <NEG> this is , at its heart , b-movie junk </NEG> : <NEG> a lurid melodrama </NEG> which appeals to neither the brain nor the heart but to the nether regions . that said , " original sin " could at least have become enjoyable junk had the filmmakers embraced <NEG> its trashiness </NEG> and indulged in it . instead , cristofer seems to have mistaken this for a serious production , and directs it as such . <NEG> the result is a vapid , uninteresting morass </NEG> of obvious crosses and double crosses , as likely to incite a yawn as a thrill . consider the initial sex scene between banderas and jolie : brightly-lit and mostly filmed from above , <NEG> it looks like an excerpt from an amateur soft porn show </NEG> . cristofer doesn't even manage to capture the allure of cuba ; instead of portraying his setting as a steamy , sensuous island paradise , <NEG> it appears bland and lifeless </NEG> . at least banderas and jolie manage to inspire some interest ; there are hints at times that they want to have more fun with the script , but aren't being given the chance . the same cannot be said of jane , whose billy is nebbish and transparent . also unwise is the jolie framing sequence , which practically gives away the film's denouement .
