Whislt there are many interesting conflicts to be pursued the movie tries to, briefly, add them all in ,and ends up by being a series of disjointed 30 second snaps with no depth.At the time it is portrayed homophobia was a global thing, not the result of Castro's Cuba alone, except that in other countries, while being illegal, homosexuals were not tortured. But there was not enough focus on this subject to hold my attention or garner one's sympathy.The huge political upheaval in Cuba whilst integral to movie is just glossed over with more 30 second scenes.The difficulty of writing freely in such an oppressive environment is not explored at all.He magically "just" meets a couple who waltz off to France with one of his manuscripts..The most significant friendship of his life, with a heterosexual man, OM, is glossed to a 30 second meeting on a rock by the sea,and the depth of this friendship is never realised nor explored either.Leaving it to seem superficial.The assisted suicide lacks any empathy whatsoever and is a throw away end of something that could have been emotionally draining.They need to go and look at old Ingamar Bergman movies !!!(eg Cries and Whispers) With a wealth of fascinating subject material to get their teeth into they deliver a scrappy, hop/skip/jump rambling of no consequence as it never stays on any subject long enough to raise empathy let alone connection to Bardem..who put in a flawless performance ..sadly.
The real life character deserved better than this mish mash collage.And i realised too that OM is not a very good actor either which would account for his lack of decent roles since Unfaithful( much over hyped in my opinion anyway)
The real life character deserved better than this mish mash collage.And i realised too that OM is not a very good actor either which would account for his lack of decent roles since Unfaithful( much over hyped in my opinion anyway)
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