THE LOST CITY (2006) *** Andy Garcia, Ines Sastre, Tomas Milian, Enrique Murciano, Bill Murray, Dustin Hoffman, Millie Perkins, Nestor Carbonell, Steven Bauer, Richard Bradford, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Julio Oscar Mechosa, Juan Fernandez, Elizabeth Pena, William Marquez, Tony Plana, (Dir: Garcia)
Andy Garcia's Bittersweet Valentine To Cuba
Andy Garcia has always been a favorite of mine to watch on screen, with his fiery, impassionate no-holds-barred, cool-as-a-cucumber performances with both excessive and implosive turns and his passion is now on full display in his directorial debut, a valentine to his beloved homeland Cuba.
Garcia stars as Fico Fellove, a nightclub owner and musician in Havana, circa 1958, on the cusp of the Cuban revolution and a drastic turn of historical events that will forever change his heart and soul.
The ones that possess and fight for both of these are namely his loving family led by the patriarchal Federico (Milian), a good man of professorial status at the university and his caring wife Dona Cecilia (Perkins), who still insist their family meet for Sunday dinners promptly at six o'clock with no excuses. Those providing the turmoil are his brothers Luis and Ricardo (Carbonell and Murciano respectively) who consistently are chomping at the bit with their disputes about the impending revolution and the desire to remain a patriot despite the odds of Communism infiltrating the masses. Fico remains the peacekeeper and will not tolerate any disrespect towards his decent-hearted father but the dam will only hold for so long as the siblings go their separate ways.
When Luis is killed in an attempted coup-de-tat assassination on loathed Presidente Batista (Fernandez) Fico can only see the writing on the wall when he allows his heart to open to Luis' widow, the beautiful Aurora (Sastre); the two fall in love and marry. Shortly thereafter things get worse when Ricardo has fled to the deep jungles of the covert military ops of Fidel Castro after he was arrested and beaten by the corrupt chief of police, the vile hand crop bearing Colonel Candela (Mechosa) who has slain Luis. Fico knows this but is powerless to do anything, which makes the tragedy unfolding even more devastating for him to burden himself with.
Garcia does an admirable job in capturing the flavor of the late 1950s look of the imbroglio-to-be with an elegant production design created by Waldemar Kalinowski and gorgeous cinematography by Emmanuel Kadosh that does justice to his ideal yet struggling nation under fire. The surprisingly literate screenplay by G. Cabrera Infante is an informative although fictitious timeline of events potboiling but the simmering, languid pacing deserves a heavy edit with its lethargic run time of nearly two and a half hours. It is obvious Garcia is focused on how things are to be depicted and it is remarkable in this seven year labor of love finally has emerged but there is a somewhat uneven tone throughout in deciding to be a "Casablanca" tinged melodrama or a "Godfather" wannabe with its sprawling plot lines and economy with words. Although I love Bill Murray, his unnamed "Writer", is a court jester ham bone comic sidekick that is at times a tad distracting; oh who am I kidding - I loved him! His entrance alone is worth the price of admission in a seersucker suit (trousers altered to shorts for the humid climes) and a panama hat.
Although the aspirations of Garcia is a mixed crazy quilt of political intonations and soul-searching empathy he should be proud of delivering something that means something if not to the audience than to himself.
Andy Garcia's Bittersweet Valentine To Cuba
Andy Garcia has always been a favorite of mine to watch on screen, with his fiery, impassionate no-holds-barred, cool-as-a-cucumber performances with both excessive and implosive turns and his passion is now on full display in his directorial debut, a valentine to his beloved homeland Cuba.
Garcia stars as Fico Fellove, a nightclub owner and musician in Havana, circa 1958, on the cusp of the Cuban revolution and a drastic turn of historical events that will forever change his heart and soul.
The ones that possess and fight for both of these are namely his loving family led by the patriarchal Federico (Milian), a good man of professorial status at the university and his caring wife Dona Cecilia (Perkins), who still insist their family meet for Sunday dinners promptly at six o'clock with no excuses. Those providing the turmoil are his brothers Luis and Ricardo (Carbonell and Murciano respectively) who consistently are chomping at the bit with their disputes about the impending revolution and the desire to remain a patriot despite the odds of Communism infiltrating the masses. Fico remains the peacekeeper and will not tolerate any disrespect towards his decent-hearted father but the dam will only hold for so long as the siblings go their separate ways.
When Luis is killed in an attempted coup-de-tat assassination on loathed Presidente Batista (Fernandez) Fico can only see the writing on the wall when he allows his heart to open to Luis' widow, the beautiful Aurora (Sastre); the two fall in love and marry. Shortly thereafter things get worse when Ricardo has fled to the deep jungles of the covert military ops of Fidel Castro after he was arrested and beaten by the corrupt chief of police, the vile hand crop bearing Colonel Candela (Mechosa) who has slain Luis. Fico knows this but is powerless to do anything, which makes the tragedy unfolding even more devastating for him to burden himself with.
Garcia does an admirable job in capturing the flavor of the late 1950s look of the imbroglio-to-be with an elegant production design created by Waldemar Kalinowski and gorgeous cinematography by Emmanuel Kadosh that does justice to his ideal yet struggling nation under fire. The surprisingly literate screenplay by G. Cabrera Infante is an informative although fictitious timeline of events potboiling but the simmering, languid pacing deserves a heavy edit with its lethargic run time of nearly two and a half hours. It is obvious Garcia is focused on how things are to be depicted and it is remarkable in this seven year labor of love finally has emerged but there is a somewhat uneven tone throughout in deciding to be a "Casablanca" tinged melodrama or a "Godfather" wannabe with its sprawling plot lines and economy with words. Although I love Bill Murray, his unnamed "Writer", is a court jester ham bone comic sidekick that is at times a tad distracting; oh who am I kidding - I loved him! His entrance alone is worth the price of admission in a seersucker suit (trousers altered to shorts for the humid climes) and a panama hat.
Although the aspirations of Garcia is a mixed crazy quilt of political intonations and soul-searching empathy he should be proud of delivering something that means something if not to the audience than to himself.