Biutiful (2010)

This is the story of Uxbal, a man living in this world, but able to see his death, which guides his every move.

Director:

Alejandro González Iñárritu

Writers:

Alejandro González Iñárritu (screenplay), Nicolás Giacobone (screenplay),

Stars:

Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 33 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Javier Bardem	...	Uxbal
Maricel Álvarez	...	Marambra
Hanaa Bouchaib	...	Ana
Guillermo Estrella	...	Mateo
Eduard Fernández	...	Tito
Cheikh Ndiaye	...	Ekweme
Diaryatou Daff	...	Ige
Taisheng Chen	...	Hai (as Taishen Cheng)
Jin Luo	...	Liwei
George Chibuikwem Chukwuma	...	Samuel
Lang Sofia Lin	...	Li
Yodian Yang	...	Chino Obeso
Tuo Lin	...	Barman Bar Hai
Xueheng Chen	...	Chino Bodega
Xiaoyan Zhang	...	Jung

Storyline

Uxbal, single father of two children, finds his life in chaos as he is forced to deal with his life in order to escape the heat of crime in underground Barcelona, to break with the love for the divorced, manic depressive, abusive mother of his children and to regain spiritual insight in his life as he is diagnosed with terminal cancer.

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Plot Keywords:

illegal immigrant | children | immigrant | single father | chinese | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing images, language, some sexual content, nudity and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [de]

Country:

Mexico Spain

Language:

Spanish Chinese Wolof

Release Date:

22 October 2010 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Biutipuli

Filming Locations:

Cataluña, Spain

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£156,029 (UK) (28 January 2011)

Gross:

$5,100,937 (USA) (3 June 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Menageatroz, Mod Producciones, Focus Features

Technical Specs

Runtime:

148 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The audible heartbeats in the scene where Uxbal hugs his daughter were achieved on set with microphones stuck to the actors' skin while they hugged.

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Goofs

In the scene where there are three dead boys lying, the hands of the middle boy changes in between shots.

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Quotes

Marambra: At least I laugh and I like seeing people's teeth, if I'm happy because I'm happy, if I'm depressed because I'm depressed, I love you, I love you I said.

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Connections

Featured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.1 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Let the Music Play"
Performed by Barry White
Written by Barry White
Courtesy of Universal Music Mexico S.A. De C.V.
Publishing Warner Chappell Music Mexico S.A. De C.V.

User Reviews

Dare to Follow Uxbal's Many-Sided Journey

Inarritu's three previous films---Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel---are classified together as the Death Trilogy, as they each depict the exponential impact of fatal or near-fatal occurrences in the interconnected existence of separate lives. They are each epic, punch-packing dramatic powerhouses. But now I see he still had much more to say on the literally infinite subject of death. And he says it with Biutiful, a purely experiential film that pierces through the heart with the acuity of a stingray barb.

The narrative here is a rail tunnel of raw, sprawling intimacy set in an overpopulated, decaying Barcelona ghetto. We follow Uxbal, and we're not entirely sure what he does. Neither does anybody, or him really. Much of the things he does are criminal, mainly mitigating between corrupt police and illegal aliens, with often catastrophic results. He is also a dedicated father to two young children whose mother, his ex-wife, is a wreck of alcohol, bipolarity and promiscuity, and worse, knows her inability to control herself and is in a quicksand of bettering herself. Uxbal also has prostate cancer, which is rapidly spreading. Also, he is internally connected with the afterlife. He doesn't see visions, he doesn't clutch shoulders and see the manner of one's impending death. He purely senses a recently deceased spirit in the room with him. He can do nothing about their situation. He just senses them.

Uxbal's ability to feel the presence of departed souls is portrayed like a sort of capacity to hear noise at the volume at which, say, a dog could only be expected to hear it. The film's setting and happenings are a jerky, spontaneous, lateral rush of urban business, like the sight, sound and fury made by the living to distract themselves from the silence of death. Each scene seems to be a concordance of extroverted behavior and internal behavior, both with equal fervor, yet both on either side of some two-way mirror. Only those characters, namely Uxbal, whose conflicts and dilemmas are constantly internalized, can hear that silence. Eventually, his daughter does as well, and becomes the closest to him, in what one might go as far as to consider the film's climax, a bear-like hug they both know is as fleeting as every other action in this desperate commotion of a life they lead.

Iñárritu intends to drain us. Physically, internally, emotionally. And he cleans out his total cinematic armory to do so. And like death, that is both a blessing and a curse. For however harrowing it is, Biutiful exalts us with the chance to see soul bare, through Javier Bardem's performance as Uxbal. Watching Bardem absorb, involve and ultimately possess a many-sided role like Uxbal's is a singular delicacy, and a complete wonder. His eyes speak agonizing tomes. He hauls from an unfathomably mysterious spring of passion, grief, and who knows what else.

One might be able to delineate that Bardem renders a tragic individual as a fading Barcelona forager who deals in illegal immigrants and connects with the deceased. But every now and then, a story materializes, conveyed in a way that is so sprawling, so comprehensive, that no one premise or implication can classify it. Attempting to definitely describe it limits something that offers the utmost magnitude of whatever an actor's, a filmmaker's, and viewer's, understanding. That is what makes Biutiful so precious.