 | Before Night Falls Starring: Javier Bardem, Olivier Martinez, Andrea Di Stefano, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn |
"Before Night Falls" contains dazzling imagery, impressive music, and a strong, memorable performance by Javier Bardem. Unfortunately, these elements are not enough to sustain a good film. A film maker must be a good storyteller. Painter/sculptor, and now director, Julien Schnabel fails in this area. Schnabel seems so obsessed at making an art film that he quickly loses his way. At each point, when the film's cinematic imagery begins to soar, this director does something to distract the viewer from the narrative. Irritating cameos, lack of judicious editing, and poor judgment result in depressing boredom. This could have been an important film yet Schnabel self-destructs at every opportunity. Based on the memoirs of Cuban gay poet/novelist Reynaldo Arenas, "Before Night Falls" begins like a soft poem. With voice over narration we hear the words of Arenas (Bardem) describing his childhood in complete poverty and complete freedom. The visuals reflect the poetry of Arenas' narrative. Soon we see Arenas as a young boy during Castro's revolution. Using documentary footage and gritty new photography, Schnabel effectively depicts the excitement of the time. Suddenly, everything comes to a halt as a Cuban peasant, looking oddly like Sean Penn with a bad accent, makes an appearance. After three to four minutes we decide it is, indeed, Sean Penn with a bad accent! Now where were we? Oh yes, Arenas as a young gay poet in post revolutionary Cuba. Later, in this long, long film, we see Johnny Depp fare a bit better as an outrageous transvestite and again as a sadistic young prison officer. These irritating cameos do little to move the narrative and contribute nothing to the film. This is a surprisingly obvious attempt by Schnabel to add star power to his pretentious, self-indulgent art film. As we follow this writer's life to his eventual death, at forty in New York, we grow to admire Bardem's powerful performance and hate the film! Certainly, Javier Bardem, as an actor, does his best to sustain this film. It is an intelligent and impressive performance. Bardem resists the temptation to play the gay stereotype with subtle body language and control, while powerfully involving the audience with Arenas and his suffering. Schnabel does his best to sabotage the effort. Bardem's Best Actor nomination is living proof that a good actor can overcome his material. I should mention the sensitive score by Carter Burwell with help from Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, and Gustav Mahler. Cinematography by Xavier Perez Grobet and Guillermo Rosas was exceptional. Sadly, night fell on this film early. |