This is a sad and not very imaginative movie about a city on its deathbed, after decades of slow strangulation. The buildings are crumbling, there is hardly any paint left on the walls, everything is old, broken down, and worn out. So are the people, needless to say. Although Cuba's demographics don't lean toward the elderly section of the population, there are a lot of old people in the film, with special emphasis on their wrinkled skin that looks just like Havana's decrepit walls.
Everyone in the film is working hard, not a single person slouches in front of a TV or gets drunk in a bar, there are no prostitutes or drug dealers or thieves, there isn't a petty cell in anyone's body. It's a picture of working class virtue, which is why I find it boring. These aren't real people. Sure, I know Cubans are hard-working, well educated, and so on, but give me a break.
There are a few sexy bits here and there, a close-up of a hot girl's grinding haunches, some night-time partying, etc., but it tastes like sugar-coating. The film seems to tell you yeah, they are trying to have fun but they hardly have any heart left for it.
What is real about these people is their grimness. The drag queen and the Down's syndrome kid are the only ones with any emotion in the film. Everyone else is grim, grim, grim. You can see their dreams flaking away like the paint on their walls. 60 years of economic embargo will do that to you. It's a picture of the last days of a city under siege.
Everyone in the film is working hard, not a single person slouches in front of a TV or gets drunk in a bar, there are no prostitutes or drug dealers or thieves, there isn't a petty cell in anyone's body. It's a picture of working class virtue, which is why I find it boring. These aren't real people. Sure, I know Cubans are hard-working, well educated, and so on, but give me a break.
There are a few sexy bits here and there, a close-up of a hot girl's grinding haunches, some night-time partying, etc., but it tastes like sugar-coating. The film seems to tell you yeah, they are trying to have fun but they hardly have any heart left for it.
What is real about these people is their grimness. The drag queen and the Down's syndrome kid are the only ones with any emotion in the film. Everyone else is grim, grim, grim. You can see their dreams flaking away like the paint on their walls. 60 years of economic embargo will do that to you. It's a picture of the last days of a city under siege.