Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Julian Schnabel's 'Before Night Falls' tells the story of poet and author Reinaldo Arenas who had grown up in Cuba during the revolution. Schnabel's approach in direction is quite unique. The use of a brownish filter gives it a distinct look highlighting the Cuban heat and making the overall colours more exotic. In addition the play on languages is done quite wonderfully. I liked that some of the dialogue and the recital of the poems were done in Cuban Spanish (maintaining the Cuban essence). The film itself has a lyrical flow and thanks to the vivacious cinematography and art direction, 'Before Night Falls' is visually appealing for the most part (as it is shown through Arenas's point of view). Humour is also used in a clever and subtle way even though the overall tone is quite dark. Javier Bardem once again delivers one of his career best works as he captures the poet's essence. His hard work has paid off. He is supported by an equally strong cast that includes Oliver Martinez, Johnny Depp and Diego Luna.In the end, 'Before Night Falls' is about artistic freedom and freedom of expression which was forbidden in Cuba and those who persisted were punished. But, Reinaldo was among the few who never gave up on his art and never stayed silent.

Visual artist Julian Schnabel was the perfect choice for bringing to the screen the richly colorful life and times of Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990). BEFORE NIGHT FALLS began as a book, Arenas' memoir, translated and released in 1993: time has aged the eloquence of this memoir but has not marred the impact of the brilliance of the writing. Arenas wrote with a degree of truth and keen observation that makes his moments of antics with his characters like comic relief in a Shakespearean play. The screenplay was written by Lázaro Gómez Carriles, Cunningham O'Keefe and Julian Schnabel who with great homage to Arenas made his life as narrated by Arenas, in an inextricable mix of his memories, dreams, nightmares and pure fiction. He grew up as poor, naked illegitimate child, joined Castro's Cuban revolution and became an intellectual, employed in the public library. After discovering his gay sexuality, he soon shares in the regime's inconsistent persecution. His work and life become dominated by the mix of temptation, fear, betrayal and man hunting in both senses. Finally he makes it to Manhattan, only to get caught in another trap for which there is only one tragic escape in the end - his death from AIDS.Arenas had a gift of distilling Magical Realism, transforming even the radical ugliness of Castro's Cuba into the topical paradise so beloved by Cubans everywhere. This cinematic version lets the viewer experience that rich literary output of one of the most exciting writers of the last century. For example, 'Walking along streets that collapse from crumbling sewers. Past buildings that you jump to avoid because they will fall on you. Past grim faces that size you up and sentence you. Past closed shops, closed markets, closed cinemas, closed parks, closed cafés. Sometimes showing dusty signs, justifications: "CLOSED FOR RENOVATION," "CLOSED FOR REPAIRS." What kind of repairs? When will these so-called renovations be finished? When at last will they begin? Closed... closed... closed... everything closed. I arrive, open the countless padlocks and run up the temporary stairs. There she is, waiting for me. I pull off the cover, and stare at her dusty, cold shape I clean of the dust and caress her. With my hand, delicately, I wipe clean her back, her base and her sides. In front of her, I feel desperate and happy. I run my fingers over her keyboard and suddenly it all starts up. With a tinkling sound the music begins, little by little, then faster; now full speed. Walls, trees, streets, cathedrals, faces and beaches. Cells, mini- cells, huge cells. Starry nights, bare feet, pines, clouds. Hundreds, thousands, millions of parrots. A stool, a climbing plant, they all answer my call, all come to me. The walls recede, the roof vanishes, and you float quite naturally. You float uprooted, dragged off, lifted high. Transported, immortalized, saved. Thanks to that subtle, continuous rhythm, that music, that incessant tap-tap.'Javier Bardem completely inhabits the poet that was Arenas - a performance so delicately nuanced that it remains one of the great moments in cinema. He is ably supported by Olivier Martinez as Lázaro Gómez Carriles, and incidental roles by Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Diego Luna, Jerzy Skolimowski, Hector Babenco and a host of other fine actors. This is one of those films that remains a standard of the industry and certainly Javier Bardem will never be forgotten for his inhabiting the essence of what made Reinaldo Arenas a great writer. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp

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.

Before Night Falls (2000)A Lyrical Fight for Survival, without the SurvivalFilmed with such undistracting and unrelenting imagination, Before Night Falls is not only beautiful and seamless, it's a surprise, frame after frame. And it manages to keep flowing visually, with invention, without distracting from the personal plight of the central character, the writer Reinaldo Arenas. Add the full blooded performance by Javier Bardem, who is something of a one man show, and the movie is intrinsically special.Julian Schnabel is turning out to be a better movie director than artist, maybe because his tendency toward formal invention made his art contrived while in the movie world this formalism is embedded with more evident meaning, and so it has something to support beyond its own effects. His subjects show a consistency that reveals an artistic devotion to himself, yes, as an auteur, or as a concerned person. Herzog might be another good example, offhand. From the flawed Basquiat to the compelling (and depressing) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Schnabel digs into those people who are pushed to be exceptional. All three of these films, at least, are about individuals with enormous talent and resolve, but they are all three also driven by circumstance to be even greater than themselves, or to make themselves into something beyond what even they expected. All of Schnabel's films are artfully made without being indulgent--even the exaggerated special effects used in Diving Bell are necessary.And all three of these examples end in affecting, very personal tragedy. After the Lou Reed concert film diversion (which I haven't seen), it'll be worth watching what this relative newcomer to the movies brings out next.