Biutiful

Biutiful

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Written By: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Armando Bo & Nicolás Giacobone.
Photography: Rodrigo Prieto.
Starring: Javier Bardem & Maricel Alvarez.
Year: 2010
Country: Spain, Mexico.

 

Biutiful is one of those odd movies that somehow creates something so sublime from subjects so harrowing. 

 Uxbal is the centre of the movie, A father of two fighting for custody with their bipolar mother. He's entangled in illegal immigration and cheap labour... and he's dying from cancer.

 He can also make contacts with the dead from being half dead, or... something. I'm not sure, the film has a lot of sub-plots that aren't really delved into. 

  Uxbal is played by the infallible Javier Bardem who was awarded with best actor at the Cannes Film Awards for this role. And you can completely understand that from his first line of dialogue. If Javier Bardem isn't a name you know despite winning an Oscar for  No Country For Old Men, he soon will be, as he's playing the villain in upcoming Sam Mendes directed James Bond flick, Skyfall. And no, he wasn't in Watchmen, that was Jeffrey Dean Morgan.  

  The director is also something of a big name. Most famously for his début film, Amores Perros and then following them up with films like 21 Grams and Babel. This is the first of his movies I've seen and I'm eager to check out his others now. I'm also going to check out some John Cassavetes, who was apparently was a big influence on the film stylistically. Although I know off a lot of his films; Shadows, A Woman Under The Influence and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Cassavetes is someone I'm familiar with only as an actor.

 I was surprised by how cold and dark this film felt. I'm used to Spanish films having lots of bright colours and flare. This certainly ain't no Almodóvar film. Even The Skin I Live In had an OCD cleanness to it and this just feels gritty. Which isn't a criticism, obviously this style matches the narrative  

 There are two scenes in the movie; the first being a scene where Javier Bardem is walking across a bridge and one of those political campaign vans drives past with speakers on top. It really reminded me of 'The safety zone will be eliminated' scene from Paris, Texas. It does it again where, it almost recreates the scene where Henry Dean Stanton and Hunter Carson are walking on opposite sides of the road. I don't know if they were deliberate or not, but Paris, Texas is my favourite movie  of all time, and anything that reminds me of it gets extra brownie points. It's like how a Star Wars reference can make any film better. 

The film does have faults though. It's quite long, at two and twenty-one minutes, and you wil feel the drag towards the end. It has sub-plots that don't go anywhere. Javier Bardem's character is the only one how really gets any attention. I really would to have liked to have known  some more about his kids, or his ex-wife. 

Score: 3.5/5