This movie tells the story of Reinaldo Arenas, a homosexual Cuban writer and novelist that was chased during the communist period in Cuba. Only from this brief summary, you can see how powerful this life story is, and even though I haven't read the novel of the same name in which the movie is based on, it seems like the writers took full advantage of Reinaldo's story, going from his poor childhood in the Cuban countryside to his exile in the United States.
The main role here goes to Spanish-born actor Javier Bardem. The only movie with him that I've watched is No Country for Old Men, and though he is outstanding in that picture, he does a much better job here. His acting is absolutely perfect. In every scene he is (almost the whole movie), he steals your attention. He is Reinaldo Arenas in this picture, no question about it. He deserved every award he got. And he does that with a supporting cast that has names like Sean Penn (in a very tiny appearance), Johnny Deep (playing two roles), Brazilian-born director Hector Babenco (also a small role), Diego Luna and other unknown actors.
Julian Schnabel also does a very nice job directing. Even though a few of the shots reminded me a lot of Schnabel's latter The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, with very similar underwater sequences, shots of people in open cars, and open shots of the town and the woods, I appreciate his style. One shot in particular that is worth mentioning is the one in the beginning of the movie that comes out of the hole Reinaldo is playing and becomes an open shot of the small town. Beautiful work of directing. Another aspect that is worth mentioning is the photography. Both directors of photography do an excellent job, and the movie looks almost like a painting most of the time.
From all this I have mentioned, this movie would get a 9 rating. But a few things bothered me. First, the movie is quite boring and slow most of the time, because of the lousy editing by Michael Berenbaum. You could easily cut off 20 minutes of the film. And also there are too many childhood memories throughout the movie completely unnecessary. But what bothered me the most is the language issue. This movie suffers from the same problem as Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata. Both of them have great acting and directing, and all the character's speak in English, but they should be talking Spanish! If this is Cuba, you expect a Spanish-talking picture, but instead you get a few random lines in the correct language. I know this is made to attract north-American audiences, but they should be faithful to the story. Thankfully, Julian Schnabel doesn't make the same mistake in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. There, they speak French in France!
Overral, this is a great film with outstanding acting and directing, but the language issue and the lousy editing keeps this movie alway from having a better rating. A must-see for Javier Bardem and Johnny Deep fans (the only time you can see him as a transsexual).
7,5 out of 10, that in this case goes back to a 7.
The main role here goes to Spanish-born actor Javier Bardem. The only movie with him that I've watched is No Country for Old Men, and though he is outstanding in that picture, he does a much better job here. His acting is absolutely perfect. In every scene he is (almost the whole movie), he steals your attention. He is Reinaldo Arenas in this picture, no question about it. He deserved every award he got. And he does that with a supporting cast that has names like Sean Penn (in a very tiny appearance), Johnny Deep (playing two roles), Brazilian-born director Hector Babenco (also a small role), Diego Luna and other unknown actors.
Julian Schnabel also does a very nice job directing. Even though a few of the shots reminded me a lot of Schnabel's latter The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, with very similar underwater sequences, shots of people in open cars, and open shots of the town and the woods, I appreciate his style. One shot in particular that is worth mentioning is the one in the beginning of the movie that comes out of the hole Reinaldo is playing and becomes an open shot of the small town. Beautiful work of directing. Another aspect that is worth mentioning is the photography. Both directors of photography do an excellent job, and the movie looks almost like a painting most of the time.
From all this I have mentioned, this movie would get a 9 rating. But a few things bothered me. First, the movie is quite boring and slow most of the time, because of the lousy editing by Michael Berenbaum. You could easily cut off 20 minutes of the film. And also there are too many childhood memories throughout the movie completely unnecessary. But what bothered me the most is the language issue. This movie suffers from the same problem as Elia Kazan's Viva Zapata. Both of them have great acting and directing, and all the character's speak in English, but they should be talking Spanish! If this is Cuba, you expect a Spanish-talking picture, but instead you get a few random lines in the correct language. I know this is made to attract north-American audiences, but they should be faithful to the story. Thankfully, Julian Schnabel doesn't make the same mistake in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. There, they speak French in France!
Overral, this is a great film with outstanding acting and directing, but the language issue and the lousy editing keeps this movie alway from having a better rating. A must-see for Javier Bardem and Johnny Deep fans (the only time you can see him as a transsexual).
7,5 out of 10, that in this case goes back to a 7.