Habana Blues

leaving the cinema , I was amazed at the real feelings i had about this film. Situated in ordinary Havana, the intense social coherence , existing in difficult economic circumstances were spelled out wonderfully. The music ,which is one of the main characteristics in this film was not corny, but hiphop,jazz,rock, and salsa at the same time. The characters were deeper and deeper, when the film continued, and i seldomly saw friendship so beautifully evoked as in the relationship between the two main men.all other important stories within the film were moving and warm, and realistic. The end is not not-happy; i'd call it positive and real. it's a for-all-people-around-the-world-award-winner film.

No, there is more to it than that! This recent film does compare similarities with John Landis's classic in the plot, but the competent acting and general mood of the piece sets it apart in its own league.

The contemporary mood of troubles people coping in a troubled Havana is well caught by its director Benito Zambrano. I very much admire the originality of this piece, and also its attempts to make the film accessible to many audiences by using several traits which one may call 'stereotypical'.

Albeit the plot of two down on their luck desperate musicians is a familiar one but the genre of music struggles to make original in its own right.

One of the main problems is, its a situation many audiences have met before and there is not much Zambrano and his cast can do to avoid this. Personally, some of the music performed initially is quite weak but maybe this is to show Tito and Ruy's development in their music. I am not sure...

Some of the songs have real flavour- as personally I find a lot of Latin American produced Music does. Some try to heighten the films' messages- others seem just to be there to fill the running time.

The ensemble performances are very good, almost every character makes an impression- in particular Yaridad Sierra who plays Ruy's wife, Caridad is very very convincing.

I also really liked the straight talking grandmother- she was excellent! It's characters like that light up the movie, when things started to become very serious overall, thats the movie works really well as an ensemble piece. The individual performances were of a similar standard, the two leads Alberto Yoel (Ruy) and Roberto Sanmartin (Tito) were well cast.

Overall, this is an enjoyable movie if you do not analyse the film too much (probably my biggest mistake), there is a lot of sentiment that some may find endearing and others repulsive. However the content of the piece is so well thought out and fairly well presented that I can't help but like in its own way...

Just saw the movie, together with some 140 students (14 - 17 years old, Dutch but mixed backgrounds) Was an absolutely gorgeous experience. Not used to non-Hollywood productions, they were both chocked and charmed by the non-happy ending, and they did really like both the story and the music, as well as the film's central ideas of love and friendship. I'd recommend it to every teacher that wants to do something with either music or history or politics or drama or a combination of any of these subjects to use the film for educational purposes, esp. with not all-too self-confidential / intellectually orientated groups of students. At least in the Dutch version, there was perhaps a bit too much sex (at least what the Muslim viewers were concerned) but that need not bother too much...

Benito Zambrano's 'Habana Blues' has got all the clichés to make it marketable internationally. The story is very deja-vu and unfortunately, there isn't much to offer. Nothing new in any case. The themes of friendship, partying etc have been done to death. In the first half, the pace just drags on. For a movie that's about music, one would expect at least a few great tracks and here while the instrumental tracks work to an extent, the songs fail because either the lyrics are syrupy or they're too preachy. The execution is quite poor. Cinematography is flat and the background score give it an out-of-date feel. The only sequences that got my attention were the ones with Caridad. This is perhaps majorly due to Yailene Sierra's terrific performance. In addition, I also liked the scenes with Tito's grandmother. Roberto Sanmartin is passable while Alberto Yoel's wooden acting is one of the major factors that contribute to 'Habana Blues's list of flaws. As a whole, 'Habana Blues' just did not work for me.

Two great musics survive in La Habana, poor but happy. One day, two Spanish producers decide that they are good enough to have success in Spain, but leaving Cube would mean abandon lots of things, friends, lovers, culture, integrity... Great music and great musicians, is by far the best of the film, with a Goya very deserved in BSO.All the movie is quick and interesting and actors are not bad, so its pleasant to see. It reflects quite well how is the live in La Habana, and all the doubts and decision that people must do if they want to become something in life... For some people, the fact that half of the film is made of music could result bad, but well it does not bores and is interesting. Not bad!!