Excellent adaptation.

Absolutely the worst movie.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Iñárritu has always been good and this one from him is no different. The acting of Javier Bardem paired with this amazing director resulted in a emotional masterpiece.The story is sad and Javier's acting makes sure the audience experience the emotions he is going through. The story is touching and its very unpredictable with the exception of the ending.Good movie and perhaps best of Javier's acting so far.

Biutiful is a very cruel and heavy film, the script is competent , the cast is also competent , more emphasis is Javier Bardem this excellent, each field this actor surprises me more , is the direction of Alejandro G. Inarritu , and it makes a great direction , not enough to be his best work in the direction , even more so is very good, the picture is good and dark , the pace is good, the soundtrack is very good, and the film is full of moments and strong , the character Javier Bardem , Uxbal , is very interesting , one of the best characters of the actor, Biutiful is one of the best films of Alejandro G. Inarritu (which eventually would Birdman and the Revanant ) when the movie ends you feel the sensation a punch in the stomach . Note 8.6

It sounds like a cliché, but films like Biutiful can be life changing, if you let them be. A film that magnifies the blurriness of life, the delicate mixture between everyday duties and death, while bringing a startling yet clarifying realization of mortality. You want to grab onto the moments; when Uxbal hugs his daughter in a final embrace and she listens to her Father's heartbeat breathing the last of his life into her. But it's already gone. The moment is transfixing in its vanishing. An alchemy of beauty, love and grim despair paints the resonant shades of this film. Alejandro Inarritu's direction emotionally assails the viewer in poetic imagery and pure visual intricacies. The vivid, textural soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla highlights the richness of the frame. The worldly instrumentation swirls in the tangible, multicultural landscape depicted on screen. The music complements Inarritu's gritty realism: an exhibition of local Barcelona haunts, the foods, the alleyways, the pores in various shades of skin, the sounds of the underworld, etc. The synergy between composer and director forms a worldly and complete portrait. But without the lived-in authenticity of Javier Bardem's creation of Uxbal, you would only be left dumbfounded, gawking at captivating images. The actor blends into the character effortlessly, yet the internal effort is quite palpable to the viewer. You are not meant to awe at this "performance," celebrate, or even admire, you are left to feel. However this feeling stays or leaves with you. The story of this character leaves you drained, or on the contrary, uplifted by his plight and more empathetic. As Uxbal nears his end, Bardem channels vulnerability disguised as (the wise know) exceptional strength. Without Bardem, a full heart and pathos would be missing. He disarms you with his well traveled eyes and a relentless sense of humanity. Uxbal dissipates into the white mist, a character jostling between the burden of his imaginary world and the harsh reality of this one's trivial but profound beauty.

A painful story of a father, it's a great film but not an entertaining one so just beware of tears. There are a kind of painful movies that show the pain in face. This is a kind of movie that does not show pain and yet brings pain to those who witness it. The greatness of this movie goes to Javier Bardem, the actor who gives us an "into the skin" performance. He knows that he has to leave and he has to make preparations for his kids, and along with that he has to deal with so many issues. It's not an easy ride, this life it's of various challenges but we have to fight, overcome the obstacles, do what we want to do and then lay in peace. Though shot very finely there a raw appeal to the film. We can smell those Barcelona streets or the gas from that warehouse and even that pub that is there for some few minutes only. We can feel as being there alive in those places than mere spectators and thanks to the cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and the director Alejandro Inarritu for giving us a sublime piece of melancholy poetry. Each frame is detailed with emotions or the social condition of the characters and it just grows on by the end. It's a kind of film where may be half an hour into the film we keep our hankies handy to wipe out the tears or at least have the fists under the chin, coz it's not something we would like to see and yet we are made to see a few tragic realities. For this film, which is a rarity in terms of acting, I would give more credit to Javier Bardem for bringing life into the character and makes us feel. I am not sure if there is anyone who see this film and feels nothing for this father who is trapped with guilt of various crimes, fatherhood and a single parent who has to leave his wife. It's one of the least entertaining film though, coz there is no guns, no drugs, no nothing that causes pain except for deteriorating health that is terminal and invisible. I am thankful coz I got an opportunity to see it in a theatre while in Mexico, I did not get anything then, but still I did feel very sad. When I watched it today with those subtitles, I am happier for having understood a lot many details and yet the melancholy feeling gets back. But, what I get from this, is that we have to do our thing before being laid in peace, it's not just about getting married, raising family and dying off, it's more than that. We have our life, but we need to create a grave for ourselves in the world so that when we are gone there are a few who shall be proud for what we have done to them. A 4/5 for one of the finest acting displays by Bardem and a good movie. It may seem long at 150 minutes, but wait patiently coz every frame has something about it. Good editing I must say.Just to mention, was wondering if the director saw the telugu film "Matru Devo Bhava".