One may be carried away by the great music of the elderly Cuban gentlemen, by their charm, by their vivacity and their general attitude towards live, I would gladly defy anyone to inform me about the history of the Buena Vista Social Club as such and their place in Havana society before and during the Fidel Castro regime after watching this documentary. I think the information would be very slight. What did Wim Wenders had in mind conceiving this documentary? He lets the members of the Club introducing themselves extensively (there is no disturbing interviewer), but this is limited to the 4 main members of the club and takes already one hour!. With all due respect to the gentlemen it must be said that these introductions have a high percentage of meaningless anecdote. It seems that Wenders started the documentary without the faintest notion what the Buena Vista Social Club was.
The artist within Wim Wenders could not refrain from an extensive iconoclastic view of Havana, during day time, night time and any other time of the day. This may have worked if Wenders would have limited himself; but after 60 minutes of another drive through the town, the ploy begins to bore and the point Wenders wants to make becomes repetitious. Moreover, Wenders is not the first documentary maker to show the poorness of Havana and the American 50's oldtimer cars.
I was carried away by the music (who wouldn't?), but I felt betrayed by Wenders that not with one song he could be patient enough to let the viewer hear and see the complete performance. No one with real love for the music would have done this, unless the whole venture is aimed at letting us buy the by Ry Cooder produced cd's. I know that that is a strong thing to say, but I can remember another venture by Ry Cooder in the 70's, when he suddenly introduced the "forgotten" Hawaiian musician Gabby Pahinui; what ever became of him? (anyone out there who knows?)
What in the end the documentary does is to give the gentlemen and the lady singer their long awaited 15 minutes of world fame; both Ry Cooder and Wim Wenders can have a good feeling about this. In two years time no one will remember anymore what the Buena Vista Social Club was and both Cooder and Wenders will be busy on other projects. (6/10)
The artist within Wim Wenders could not refrain from an extensive iconoclastic view of Havana, during day time, night time and any other time of the day. This may have worked if Wenders would have limited himself; but after 60 minutes of another drive through the town, the ploy begins to bore and the point Wenders wants to make becomes repetitious. Moreover, Wenders is not the first documentary maker to show the poorness of Havana and the American 50's oldtimer cars.
I was carried away by the music (who wouldn't?), but I felt betrayed by Wenders that not with one song he could be patient enough to let the viewer hear and see the complete performance. No one with real love for the music would have done this, unless the whole venture is aimed at letting us buy the by Ry Cooder produced cd's. I know that that is a strong thing to say, but I can remember another venture by Ry Cooder in the 70's, when he suddenly introduced the "forgotten" Hawaiian musician Gabby Pahinui; what ever became of him? (anyone out there who knows?)
What in the end the documentary does is to give the gentlemen and the lady singer their long awaited 15 minutes of world fame; both Ry Cooder and Wim Wenders can have a good feeling about this. In two years time no one will remember anymore what the Buena Vista Social Club was and both Cooder and Wenders will be busy on other projects. (6/10)