Chicago – The feel bad movie of 2010 has finally arrived in stores. Pardon me for withholding my enthusiasm. Although Alejandro González Iñárritu’s fourth feature has its share of indelible images, its familiar themes and unrelenting solemnity causes the senses to become numbed rather than engaged. The film offers 147 minutes of pure bleakness with a couple booger jokes thrown in for last-minute levity.
Only the shattering performances from Javier Bardem and Maricel Álvarez make “Biutiful” function as something more than a gorgeously lensed dirge. This is the first Iñárritu film I’ve seen that feels too long. Without the Rubix cube-like structure of his previous features, this linear descent into despair feels naggingly one note, perhaps illustrating that Iñárritu’s fractured editing was primarily what kept his viewers’ attention rapt during cumbersome dramas such as “21 Grams” and “Babel.”
Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0
Bardem won the Best Actor award at Cannes and scored a...
Only the shattering performances from Javier Bardem and Maricel Álvarez make “Biutiful” function as something more than a gorgeously lensed dirge. This is the first Iñárritu film I’ve seen that feels too long. Without the Rubix cube-like structure of his previous features, this linear descent into despair feels naggingly one note, perhaps illustrating that Iñárritu’s fractured editing was primarily what kept his viewers’ attention rapt during cumbersome dramas such as “21 Grams” and “Babel.”
Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0
Bardem won the Best Actor award at Cannes and scored a...
- 6/1/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – In the midst of life’s journey, what may seem like a long time suddenly can become short, what seems like the routine suddenly becomes desperate. The theme of these changes and the effect on a dying soul is explored in “Biutiful.”
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The film is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, best known for “Babel” and “Amores Perros,” and continues with his exploration of happenstance and chance encounters, this time fueled by a man who literally feels his life ebbing away.
Javier Bardem is Uxbal, a shady character on the streets of Barcelona, Spain, who acts as a facilitator for black market immigration labor. He is raising two children on his own, after separating from his wife Marambra (Maricel Álvarez) due to her addiction problems. Despite copious sums of cash, Uxbal prefers a more modest existence, mostly because his Barcelona is one of the shadows and squalor, areas not frequented by tourists.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
The film is directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, best known for “Babel” and “Amores Perros,” and continues with his exploration of happenstance and chance encounters, this time fueled by a man who literally feels his life ebbing away.
Javier Bardem is Uxbal, a shady character on the streets of Barcelona, Spain, who acts as a facilitator for black market immigration labor. He is raising two children on his own, after separating from his wife Marambra (Maricel Álvarez) due to her addiction problems. Despite copious sums of cash, Uxbal prefers a more modest existence, mostly because his Barcelona is one of the shadows and squalor, areas not frequented by tourists.
- 1/28/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Title: Biutiful Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Starring: Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernandez, Cheikh Ndiaye, Diaryatou Daff, Cheng Tai Shen, Luo Jin It just so happens that there isn’t anything beautiful found in a flick titled Biutiful. Tragedy and despair fill the lens in just about every scene. Attempts of showing compassion between characters is as coarse as sandpaper. Even the atmosphere is cold and callous. Basically, this one is a real downer. However, if one is able to process and handle all of the dark emotions, they will be able to appreciate the beauty in the storytelling along with the steady performance of Javier Bardem. If you reach [...]...
- 12/29/2010
- by joe
- ShockYa
Javier Bardem is not one to shy away from challenges. His brave work in Julian Schnabel's "Before Night Falls," in which he portrayed Cuban poet and dissident Reinaldo Arenas, earned Bardem his first Oscar nomination. His equally moving performance in "The Sea Inside" earned him a Golden Globe nom. And then there was his chilling portrayal of sociopath Anton Chigurh in the Coen brothers' "No Country for Old Men," for which Bardem won the Academy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and BAFTA awards for best supporting actor two years ago. So when Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu ("Amores Perros," "21 Grams," "Babel") sent the Spanish actor the script for "Biutiful," Bardem was at once drawn to the lead character, Uxbal, a dying man racing against time to ensure that his children are left in good hands. Bardem describes Uxbal as a man "trapped between what he would like to do...
- 12/8/2010
- backstage.com
Second trailer for Alejandro González Iñárritu's 'Biutiful' starring Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernández, Cheikh Ndiaye, Diaryatou Daff, Taisheng Cheng and Jin Luo.
'Biutiful' is a love story between a father and his children. This is the journey of Uxbal, a conflicted man who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality amidst the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona. His livelihood is earned out of bounds, his sacrifices for his children know no bounds. Like life itself, this is a circular tale that ends where it begins. As fate encircles him and thresholds are crossed, a dim, redemptive road brightens, illuminating the inheritances bestowed from father to child, and the paternal guiding hand that navigates life's corridors, whether bright, bad - or biutiful.
It opens in the Us on December 29 2010.
'Biutiful' is a love story between a father and his children. This is the journey of Uxbal, a conflicted man who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality amidst the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona. His livelihood is earned out of bounds, his sacrifices for his children know no bounds. Like life itself, this is a circular tale that ends where it begins. As fate encircles him and thresholds are crossed, a dim, redemptive road brightens, illuminating the inheritances bestowed from father to child, and the paternal guiding hand that navigates life's corridors, whether bright, bad - or biutiful.
It opens in the Us on December 29 2010.
- 10/19/2010
- by noreply@blogger.com (Flicks News)
- FlicksNews.net
Javier Bardem stars in "Biutiful" from Roadside Attractions. The Alejandro González Iñárritu drama opens on December 29th in limited areas. Also in the cast are Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernández, Cheikh Ndiaye and Diaryatou Daff. Iñárritu wrote alongside Armando Bo and Nicolás Giacobone. "Biutiful" is a love story between a father and his children. This is the journey of Uxbal, a conflicted man who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality amidst the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona. His livelihood is earned out of bounds, his sacrifices for his children know no bounds. Like life itself, this is a circular tale that ends where it begins. As fate encircles him and thresholds are crossed, a dim, redemptive road brightens, illuminating...
- 10/19/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Roadside Attractions has released the the official domestic trailer for crime drama Biutiful, starring Javier Bardem who stars as Uxbal, a man involved in illegal dealing is confronted by his childhood friend, who is now a policeman. Co stars Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernández, Cheikh Ndiaye, Diaryatou Daff, Taisheng Cheng and Luo Jin.
Synopsis:
Biutiful is a love story between a father and his children. This is the journey of Uxbal, a conflicted man who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality amidst the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona. His livelihood is earned out of bounds, his sacrifices for his children know no bounds. Like life itself, this is a circular tale that ends where it begins. As fate encircles him and thresholds are crossed, a dim, redemptive road brightens, illuminating the inheritances bestowed from father to child, and the paternal guiding hand that navigates life’s corridors,...
Synopsis:
Biutiful is a love story between a father and his children. This is the journey of Uxbal, a conflicted man who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality amidst the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona. His livelihood is earned out of bounds, his sacrifices for his children know no bounds. Like life itself, this is a circular tale that ends where it begins. As fate encircles him and thresholds are crossed, a dim, redemptive road brightens, illuminating the inheritances bestowed from father to child, and the paternal guiding hand that navigates life’s corridors,...
- 10/19/2010
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
Roadside Attractions has released the domestic trailer for Alejandro González Iñárritu's Biutiful , starring Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernández, Cheikh Ndiaye, Diaryatou Daff, Taisheng Cheng and Jin Luo 2. Opening in limited theaters on December 29, Biutiful is a love story between a father and his children. This is the journey of Uxbal, a conflicted man who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality amidst the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona. His livelihood is earned out of bounds, his sacrifices for his children know no bounds. Like life itself, this is a circular tale that ends where it begins. As fate encircles him and thresholds are crossed, a dim, redemptive road brightens,...
- 10/18/2010
- Comingsoon.net
I haven’t much cared for any of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s films, since his assured debut, Amoros Perros, a film I loved! His last 2 titles, Babel and 21 Grams, were pretentious, bleak bores… to me anyway… albeit pretty, pretentious, bleak bores that mimicked the structure of Perros, but lacked its revelatory punch.
4 years post Babel, he’s back with a film called Biutiful, whick looks like another pretty picture, with an international cast that includes Senegalese actors Cheikh Ndiaye & Diaryatou Daff, Nigerian George Chibuikwem Chukwuma, and others, all starring alongside Javier Bardem. The film divided critics when it debuted at Cannes earlier this year, with Focus Features picking up USA distribution rights to it.
The film’s synopsis, courtesy of Cannes: Biutiful is the story of Uxbal. Devoted father. Tormented lover. Mystified son. Underground businessman. Friend of the disposed. Ghost seeker. Spiritual sensitive. A survivor at the invisible margins in today’s Barcelona.
4 years post Babel, he’s back with a film called Biutiful, whick looks like another pretty picture, with an international cast that includes Senegalese actors Cheikh Ndiaye & Diaryatou Daff, Nigerian George Chibuikwem Chukwuma, and others, all starring alongside Javier Bardem. The film divided critics when it debuted at Cannes earlier this year, with Focus Features picking up USA distribution rights to it.
The film’s synopsis, courtesy of Cannes: Biutiful is the story of Uxbal. Devoted father. Tormented lover. Mystified son. Underground businessman. Friend of the disposed. Ghost seeker. Spiritual sensitive. A survivor at the invisible margins in today’s Barcelona.
- 7/15/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
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