Copyright (© 2001 by Michael Segers, All rights reserved
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Before Night Falls
Cast:
Javier Bardem, Olivier Martinez, Andrea Di Stefano, Johnny Depp,
Sean Penn, Michael Wincott, Olatz Lopez Garmendia,
Vito Maria Schnabel, Najwa Nimri, Hector Babenco,
Jerzy Skolimowski, Sebastian Silva
Directed by Julian Schnabel
Written by Reynaldo Arenas, Cunningham O'Keefe
Rated R for strong sexual content, some language and brief violence.
Runtime: 125 minutes
Information from
Internet Movie Data
Base
There are several films of 2000 which I have seen but not reviewed, a few I still would like to see, but a month into 2001, I've got to say enough and get on with life and film. But, before I bring the old year to a close, I want to share a fascinating film with you before the year ends, and that film is Before Night Falls.
This is the kind of film we don't see very often these days, a bio-pic, that is, a biographical film; even stranger, this one is based on the life of a writer, Reynaldo Arenas. A Cuban whose writings were smuggled out and published abroad, who escaped in the Mariel boatlifts, Arenas's life and this film are full of politics, but it is always a very human story about a very lonely man. Director Schnabel captures the sounds and textures of Arenas's life, from impoverished childhood in rural Cuba to AIDS and suicide in New York City.
Schnabel approached this project with great credentials, his earlier bio-pic, Basquiat, story of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. (The earlier film is cropping up on cable these days.) Both are the stories of artists who used their art to live, who burned out their talents in an environment that in one way or another destroyed them. But, how lush and lovely is that harsh environment captured in this film.
The fascination of the film is the way Fidel Castro is at first perceived as a bringer of new ideas, of freedom. Then, we watch the growing disillusionment set in, as anyone the regime views as a threat is crushed under growing persecution, torture, and incarceration. In fact, the film moves powerfully from the magic of Arenas's childhood through his maturity and self-discovery and terrible abuse in Cuban prisons, but once Arenas arrives in America, there is an uncomfortable feeling that Schnabel or at least his film runs out of steam.
The main attraction of this film is the performance of Spanish actor Javier Bardem as Arenas. This is one of those performances that gives me goose pimples to remember, even though in much of the film he has to deal (not too well) with English as a foreign language. Most of the names on the cast are similarly foreign to American audiences, with the exception of an almost invisible Sean Penn and Johnny Depp in a dazzling double role, a flamboyant transvestite and a macho military man.
Before Night Falls made quite a showing at the Venice Film Festival which you can of course find about on the Internet, just as you can find out about the Cannes Film Festival.
Now, make sure your cummerbunds and tiaras are all laid out because next week, the awards season gets serious. Rove and Rave along with me for the second annual Golden Goobers, which we'll be presenting for the best films of what some folks are calling one of Hollywood's worst years. Well, keep your feet dry and your patent leather polished, your heart full of noble thoughts and your hairdresser in a good mood to make your best showing at the biggest old bash in the peanut patch all year.