Little Ashes

I just saw "Little Ashes" at the LGBT Festival here in Miami and I have got to say that it was good. I do have to warn you that it is abstract at some points but it IS a Dali movie and he led a very strange life. The movie does justice to the man. I went thinking it was going to be completely about Dali but it mainly focuses on the relationship he had with Frederico. Unfortunately I am very quite aware that this movie will not get the attention it deserves in the states and that a good portion of the people who will watch this movie will only watch for the main actor, Mister Robert Pattinson but I still suggest that Dali lovers watch this movie as well as fans of slightly strange movies.

I watched this film a week ago and after the last shot I realized that I wanted to watch it again. That very moment! From the very beginning! I read in someone's article the word "haunting" about this film - I absolutely agree with it. It's an elegantly made film with fascinating actors. The enchanting guitar, violin and piano just intensify the heady mood of it. The actors' way of speaking (described as "terrible accents" in someone's comment) didn't bother me at all, maybe because neither English nor Spanish are my first languages. But I agree with Dromerito2003 that it would've been more believable if all of them spoke Spanish (Robert Pattinson definitely has "language ear" and it wouldn't be difficult for him to speak Spanish only, I think). With subtitles. By the way now I'd like to learn Spanish to read Lorca's poems in it. And to visit Spain shown so lovingly ( I agree that photography is great!)and to see as many works of Dali as possible. And to watch "Little Ashes" again...

I will admit, what drew me to this movie was the fact that Robert Pattinson was in it and after seeing Twilight and the ga-ga-ness of him and the media, young girls and even old ladies, I wanted to see him act. (It came across to me in Twilight that he was more eye candy than anything else and his 'acting' was poor.) In Little Ashes he begins shy, reserved and awkward and he ends over the top, flamboyant and awkward. I really feel no middle ground with him, it is one extreme or the other. (I guess one could argue that was Dali himself as well.) He is enjoyable to watch on screen and I do believe that there is potential there. I would have chosen differently for Dali, Pattinson is too young maybe? and British- it would have been nice to see the film in the original language of Dali, even if I had to read it.

Javier Beltran was an excellent choice to play famous writer Federico Garcia Lorca. He was passionate, commanding on screen and as a audience member you grow to love him. You feel his confusion, frustration and love for art, his country and his family. Out of all the players in this film he delivers lines with such a fervor that it as though he is speaking to you- in our time.

At times the dialog falls flat and the story moves slow, it is overall a well told story about art, love and betrayal, just as the tag line reads. The music forces the movie along at some points and the flashes of black and white imagery try to convey the chaos that was surrounding Dali and his mates in Spain in the 1920's and it does not do justice to the uncertainty and fear that was rampant.

If movies are in themselves pieces of art this is a valiant effort on the part of everyone involved, including Mr. Pattinson- though I hope this is not the best I see from him, but it did make me enjoy him as an actor, not eye candy. He to a chance and pushed the limits on himself, certain scenes he is impressive and you cannot look away- even when the image is disturbing- and taking on such an iconic figure in history takes courage.

I think that Dali and Pattinson may have one thing in common for their art- no limits.

This film is definitely in that upper echelon category of films-- will either be deeply loved or greatly misunderstood. Viewers who go with an open mind; a tolerant & patient mind; understanding that this film is depicting surreal times; understanding that this type of film may be appreciated on a poetic/metaphoric level (rather than spelling everything out/beating viewers over the head with facts or niceties)-- coming from this place then I feel this film will be greatly enjoyed. (For some viewers, it might help to perhaps have a brief surrealism/Dali./Spain between the wars primer; this might make a difference in better appreciating certain aspects of the characters and the times portrayed.) I agree with another review, that in its essence this story about a little known poet and peer of Dali named Federico García Lorca-- the words devastating, beautiful, tragic, and inspiring come to mind. Lastly, even though this film depicts early 20th Century events, I must underscore the fact that this a highly important and timely film right now in 2009 in terms of basic human rights/dignity; namely the right that any human has to deeply love whomever that person wishes to love. DEFINITELY recommend this film.

A beautiful movie about art, love and life choices. It is based on the stories and relationships between Federico García Lorca, Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel since their friendship in the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid in the 1920s. The movie focuses on the complexity of their relationships amidst a turbulent political context in Europe and particularly in Spain, a changing cultural and intellectual life dominated by the avant-garde, surrealism, the influences of jazz and the decadent lifestyle of artists in Europe. It portrays the various choices each makes without being judgmental: the romantic revolutionary choices of Lorca that lead to his execution at the hands of the Nationalist militia at the very beginning of the Spanish Civil War, the narcissistic path of Salvador Dalí marked by genius, excessiveness and conceit, and the emotionally and politically embroiled life of Luis Buñuel who decides early on that his artistic career cannot find a place in Spain.

The editing of the movie could have used a little more smoothness. Some of the scenes and frames seemed superfluous. Some of the lines in the dialogue, wanting to be informative, ended up sounding a bit out of context and unrealistic. The actors' performances were very good, except for a few instances where their performance seemed inadequate mainly because of what I take to be the main problem in the movie, namely that of language.

Two of the main actors are Spanish, speaking English - the main language of the movie - with a very heavy Spanish accent and the other two are British actors speaking English with a fake heavy Spanish accent (which made a few words incomprehensible)!!! This was a major turnoff for me. In movies like these, it's either/or. Either you get a cast that speak English with a homogeneous native accent, or you get a Spanish-speaking cast, and a good Spanish script co-writer and exert some extra effort to make the movie entirely in Spanish. I found the parts where Lorca recites some of his poems in Spanish, with the same actor in v/o reading them in English particularly disagreeable and made me incapable of properly enjoying the poetry... I'd say that the language problem reduced my enjoyment of the this otherwise very beautiful and well-done movie by 50%. I highly recommend watching it though.