Absolutely Fantastic

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The lives of ordinary Cuban citizens living in a poor neighborhood of Havana are examined. The daily struggle for survival of these people caught in one of the poorest countries of the hemisphere takes center stage in Humberto Solas' ambitious tale of life in contemporary Cuba. In fact, one wonders how could the director get away with some of his critical views of what is really happening. Like Fernando Perez's in "Suite Havana", this film takes a hard look at what it is like to live in today's Cuba.The film starts as a woman is taking a bath using a can to rinse herself. This neighborhood of Havana obviously lacks running water. The feeling of the place is much like a 'favela', or marginal slum, devoid of any material comforts. The one thing in common is that everyone is poor. The only exception is Chino's family who might be considered middle class, in comparison with the others in the film.Their meager access to food is made clear. Some enterprising individuals resort to stealing from the government whatever they can barter for something they, or someone else will need to make a swap. This is the case with the family that has nothing but rice and beans to eat, and suddenly someone brings a big piece of meat from one of the places only reserved for hard currency payment, or for tourists. Corruption seems to be everywhere, in spite of the propaganda. Necessity creates this type of mentality when there is nothing else around, not even hope. The narrative interlaces several individuals that don't necessarily know one another. It is a favorite technique employed with success by the Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inurritu and others. Mr. Sola, the director tried to encompass a lot of wrongs he saw in a political and social system, that, like all totalitarian regimes, doesn't seem to work. Thus, the only escape from their humdrum existence is leaving the country. Humberto Solas, who died not too long ago, enjoyed his success in the Cuban cinema, notably for "Lucia" the film that propelled him into the recognition he deserved.

This is without doubt one of the worst films I have ever seen.I was really looking forward to it after going to Cuba for the first time this summer and seeing the tough life people live there and being a fan of Humberto Solás' early work.The acting is truly dreadful and the script is worse - with all the important plot information delivered to the viewer through hackneyed dialogue in the least discreet way possible. The music is incredibly abrasive, which given Cuba's bountiful supply of great musicians is inexcusable.Very disappointing. It's hard to believe this is from the same director as Lucía.

this is a film about the vicissitudes of revolutionary Cuba made by a revolutionary without dollars, but with raw talent. it shows that Cubans endure. solas is a master cineasta. his "lucia" is a masterpiece of world cinema. his epic full length version of "el siglo de las luces", is one of the great little known masterpieces of history as cinema. his last two films were made on a low budget, and he relaunched the aesthetic of imperfect cinema, calling it "el cine pobre". his film "un hombre de exito" made in 1985, told a story that transpires over 3 decades of a Cuban family torn apart by dictatorship and revolution. andy garcia's "lost city" appears inauthentic compared to this narrative. rest in peace maestro solas.

I couldn't take my eyes off of this amazing movie. The acting was incredible; many times I forgot that it was acting at all, which is what I'm always hoping for, and hardly ever get. The situations were very gut-wrenchingly real, and no one had to explain the political situation to me for me to understand that poverty, hard work, family, sex and music define and shape the lives of these people. I don't know much about "production values", but honestly, who gives a ****? These actors out-did almost every Hollywood movie I've ever seen, and the stories were very poignantly told. People who "laugh embarrassedly" at the emotions displayed by the characters are probably numbed by their over-privileged American lives and unaware that in some other cultures, passionate emotions are much more commonly felt and seen. I woke up this morning still thinking about the characters.