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Four friends have a contest to see who can invite the biggest idiot to accompany them to a dinner party. If the premise makes you uncomfortable, you may feel a bit better when the main protagonist's wife expresses her view of the idea by walking out on her husband. This early scene I think is key to reassuring the audience that the filmmakers are aware the "game" which underlies the film is not ethically neutral. Having been reassured on this front, the audience can then settle back and enjoy the fireworks choosing to ignore that little voice of conscience warning you that this isn't very nice. And fireworks there are as Monsieur Pignon (the idiot) manages to destroy Pierre's life in a single evening. This is a hilarious farce with a perfect ending.

I had assumed, wrongly, that this film was about the process of Ry Cooder tracking down these aging Cuban greats and convincing them to come out of retirement for the production of the CD from which the film takes its name. This is covered, of course, but the film is shot more than a year later and after the commercial success of the recording. I guess this was to be expected, since few would have predicted the phenomenal interest that the recording would generate, so no one would have even contemplated doing a documentary in advance.

This is a wonderful film that captures the warmth, humanity, and exuberance of these great musicians despite the circumscribed nature of their Cuban lives. Compay, Ruben and Ibrahim are as vibrant, engaging and genuine as they are eccentric. Their concert at Carnegie Hall in New York is a triumphant and emotional climax to the film: an emotion fuelled by the realization that this is a never-to-be-repeated occasion.

My only quibble -- and the only thing that keeps BVSC from being a ten in my books -- is that Wim Wenders avoids any attempt to tackle explicitly the political context of his story. Why shy away from the fact that it is the disgusting political regime of the past forty years that has kept Cubans locked in poverty and isolation from the rest of the world, and forced a great musician like Ibrahim Ferrer to shine shoes in order to put food on his table?

There may have been a bit of poetic license taken with the story of Queen Victoria and her Scottish groom, but this is an absolutely wonderful film! Dench as Victoria and Connolly as Brown are absolutely superb, and the rest of the cast is just as good. (Antony Sher is brilliant as the shrewd and compassionate Disraeli, and though its not a big role, he is a joy to watch.) The developing bond between Dench and Connolly is very believable and there is a real chemistry when they are on screen together.

When the story begins England is growing very tired of their Queen's prolonged grieving over her now long-dead husband Prince Albert -- she has virtually eliminated her ceremonial appearances and cut herself off from the public literally for years. Problem is, no one seems willing to confront Her Majesty with the fact that it is high time she move on. No one, that is, except John Brown who recognizes that even the Queen of England needs to be treated like ordinary human beings once in a while.

Their developing relationship is charming and touching. This is no dry, historical period piece, this is truly a great film. (Ten out of ten from me, and I don't rate films a full ten very often!)