Great Film overall

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I guess Jlo just couldn't help her self, perfect opportunity she must have thought, I'm sure her and Marc Anthony had themselves winning Oscars in their triumphant film. Who cares if the film is all lies with enough clichés to fill Madison square garden. Thankfully the public stood away from this disaster. Anyone who knows the Lavoe story laughed at this farce. Not only did she produce a totally dishonest film she single handedly ruined her husbands once flourishing career. Shame on her for exploiting probably the Greatest salsa singer of his generation. Jlo today is an actress with no career just observe the golden globes on Sunday giving out an award because Angelina Joli wasn't interested in doing it. Sean Combs has more credibility than her.

I personally think that this movie was extremely good, plain and simple. The film started off wonderful from the get-go with a scene where an older, more reminiscent Puchi is telling her side of the story regarding Hector to a documentary film crew. You can totally get the feel of her character right from the start, and can detect her brash, in-your-face attitude suddenly.The music was absolutely amazing, the acting performances by Jennifer, Marc, and the rest of the supporting cast were amazing also, as well as complex. The directing and cinematography were also very good, and I particularly enjoyed the grainy texture of a lot of the scenes, especially the concert/performing scenes. And I also really liked that the director decided to add subtitles for some of the Spanish dialogue scenes and most of the concert scenes. I felt that by adding the subtitles for the songs that Hector performed really gave non-Spanish speakers a scope into the real meaning of the words, and more importantly, the songs themselves. Again, the music was remarkable! Jennifer's performance was absolutely amazing! I don't care what anyone says, she seemed to completely immerse herself in her character and tapped into all of her expansive acting range and emotion. She played the role of Puchi with much confidence and when needed, much vulnerability. I've heard some people commenting on Jennifer's accent, and how it was over done and what not, but keep in mind people, that was how Puchi really spoke! If anyone has had time to check out the DVD commentary by the two original writers of the screenplay: David Darmstaedter and Todd Bello, one would know that they were the ones who actually interviewed and recorded Puchi while she was in a hospital in New York before she died in 2002. They said that Jennifer used their tapes as well as other research she had done for the basis to prepare for the role of Puchi. They said she thoroughly listened to the tapes in order to get everything, down to the tone of her voice right. It was very insightful.Marc, who obviously played the title character of Hector Lavoe, was also excellent in his role. He was very instinctive and laid-back with his acting approach, but it worked wonders. The singing/concert scenes just seemed to validate even more, his superb talents as a singer in his own right. He seemed to really embody the essence of Hector Lavoe, in my opinion, and it was great to see on screen. Many have said that with Marc's great, but understated performance, that he was out-shown, or eclipsed by Jennifer's performance, but I don't know really. Jennifer and Marc had two different acting approaches in my opinion; Jennifer had to be more brash and in-your-face because that was how her character was, according to everyone who knew her, while Marc, who had to embody Hector, had to have a cool, calm and "collected" nature to him (for the most part, of course). Many close to Hector described him as a "Joker," good natured, self-destructive, and extremely flawed, so Marc's acting depicted that I feel. But all-in-all, I personally felt that Jennifer gave the more convincing and complex performance of the two (although Marc was wonderful as well-it's just that Jennifer was that much better).My favorite scenes were: The one where Puchi comes into the recording studio to find Hector's other girlfriend Carmen there, and she has her kicked out (LOL). The scene where Puchi comes home to find Hector shooting-up heroin/high, and they fight. Another is the scene in the night-club towards the end, where Hector is singing, and Puchi comes in to tell him that their son was killed. Then, the scene after their son's funeral when they have another huge fight at their apartment. All of the music/concert scenes were also favorites of mine.Here's another point I wanted to bring up: the never-ending amount of people on this board and other places, as well as critics, talking about the abundance of screen-time that Puchi (Jennifer) gets in this film. People, the story is told from the point-of-view of Puchi, hence Jennifer being in the movie that much. It's not rocket science people. And don't give me that crap about Jennifer giving herself more screen-time because she's one of the producers on the film, that doesn't fly with me. The woman had been attached to the project (as a producer first, and then was convinced to co-star in the film LATER-before her and Marc were even a married couple) since 2001. And Puchi, of all people, wanted Jennifer to play her. What were the producers, director, screenwriters, correspondents, etc. suppose to do really? Write the script from the point-of-view of Hector? No. Unfortunately, he's no longer with us, and he couldn't be there to help guide the film-makers in the process of developing the movie (which wasn't the case with the biopic "Ray"-Ray Charles was alive for the making of the film, and helped with its development). Instead, they were left with the one other person who would possibly know him better than anyone else-his wife, along with many of his friends, band-mates, and manager.Another thing to keep in mind, is the fact that this is NOT a documentary, but only a film based on a true story of Hector's life. There are some aspects that might have been modified in order to condense and what not. But lets be real here folks, it's pretty damn difficult to squeeze the entirety of someone's tragic life into a nearly 2 hour time slot.Lastly, I just wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and it was a joy to discover the beautiful music known as salsa, as well as learn more about the turbulent life of a hero in music folk-lore.

I hate JLo, how can she produce such an horrible film about Hector Lavoe, a singer that was loved all around Latin America, he is a symbol of our culture, and why she is in every scene of the movie, i have seen a lot of concerts and material on video of Hector and i never saw Puchi. I hate her, this movie is a disgrace, a person who does not know Hector Lavoe and watch this film, is not going to understand why he was so great. Lavoe deserves a movie like the one Spike Lee made about Malcolm X, or a movie like Walk the Line or Ray. Which are cool biopics. This movie have not heart. Why they did not show Hector when he was in Cali, Caracas, Panama, and other places like Ecuador, where he was in jail, or Peru, where people went crazy with his concerts. And he lived in Colombia. I hate that Hector is a symbol of Latin America culture, and this movie shows nothing about that. And in the first half hour he is already famous? why so fast? Hector Lavoe deserves a real tribute.

"El Cantante" is "the singer." Marc Anthony is Hector Lavoe, originally Perez, who came to New York from Puerto Rico at age 17. When he started to sing professionally his agents gave him the name Lavoe, which is supposed to mean "the voice" in French, because Perez was too common. I have never been a fan of Salsa music and I never heard of Lavoe, but he apparently was a hit artist in that musical genre in the 60s through the 80s. Marc Anthony, a wonderful singer in his own right, did all his own singing in the movie.Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony's wife in real life, is Puchi who becomes Lavoe's wife. Andrea Navedo is Puchi's sister. John Ortiz is Willie Colón. According to the story in the movie, Lavoe and Colon combine their talents and different backgrounds to come up with "salsa" for their music, because salsa is a mix of things. However, my search of the history of salsa does not attribute its beginnings to them.Lavoe led a troubled life, losing his mother, then his brother, when he was still young. In his relationship with Puchi he was abusive often. Sadly he got heavily into alcohol and drugs, which caused his both professional difficulties and health difficulties. He died of aids (presumably from drug use and sharing needles) before he was 50.The movie is not a particularly good one. It is shot in a grainy, unattractive style, and it is pretty tedious sitting through the whole 2 hours of it. I would have liked the 30 minute version of the movie. Still, I am a fan of both Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, and I enjoyed seeing them. Too bad they didn't have a better script to work with.