What a waste of my time!!!

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

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

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 Cinematography is flat and the background score give it an out-of-date feel.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.

This film starts off poor underground music players that you think are never going to make it, and you think that is the only story to the film; but when you get further into the film you see a large part of the Cuban culture. There are people that do not want to sell out and going to a country where it is easier to get popular, there are people that want to get popular at any cost, and there are people that must leave in order to better their family. This film is great at portraying this, because it is not over dramatized.The theme of music is a little overwhelming in the film because music is constantly being played to the point where it should be classified as a musical; but the music is very culturally sound with Cuban sounds, this keeps the viewer interested in watching the film. The music plays along with the plot, and gets poppy when the movie is exciting, and slower romantic music when the film is trying to portray intimacy.The actors are pretty good; the main actor goes through many changes through the film. From wanting to do drugs, sex, and rock & role, to towards the end, wishing that he were more of a family provider; he knows at the end that he must let go of something to keep another. These decisions at the end is what made the film for me, it makes it real, and not over dramatized; which makes the viewer relate more.

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!!

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...