'Biutiful'

'Biutiful' (R) (10) (rental)

Writers: Armando Bo, Nicolas Giacobone and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Starring: Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Guillermo Estrella, Hanaa Bouchail

"Biutiful" is a tough movie to sit through in the theatre but it has two outstanding performances worth checking out also. This is a bleak, slow and despairing movie that besides some sly humor here and there is not a joyful movie. There is nothing wrong with a movie this despairing but this is way too slow and a little editing on the length of scenes could have helped. This reminds me of Lars Von Trier's "Antichrist". Both movies are frustrating but "Biutiful" is more haunting and beautiful in spots. Javier Bardem is amazing and is perfect for this kind of role. He plays Uxbal who is a father of two kids who deals with illegal immigrant labor and has to deal with a mentally unstable ex wife. Adding to his troubles is the fact that he has just learned that he has terminal cancer. We can see Uxbal is a good father and the work he does is immoral but he still is great to his family. His ex wife Marambra has good days and bad days but her depression makes her an unfit mother and she is sleeping with Uxbal's brother. Marambra is played by stage actress Maricel Alvarez and she is outstanding here, equal to Bardem.

Javier Bardem is a wonderful actor and I love his subtlety and how he acts with his soulful eyes. In "Biutiful" Bardem is quiet and introspective and his best scenes are with his kids at the dinner table. There is a beautiful and heartbreaking scene near the end where Uxbal has to say goodbye to his daughter. I also love the performance by Maricel Alvarez who does a great job balancing the scenes where she is happy and the scenes where she breaks down. I loved the performances and found the child actors natural and I loved the scenes dealing with family. Another strong scene involves Marambra on one of her better days as she has dinner with Uxbal and the kids. What I didn't care for were the scenes with symbolism and dreams that were too many and too self indulgent. I also thought the scenes where Uxbal handles immigrant, Chinese labor and works with street people to be uninteresting. On the flip side I did love when Uxbal takes in a Senegalese woman to take care of the kids when he gets sicker.

"Biutiful" has moments of greatness and haunting beauty but it is also overlong and way too slow. The writer and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has this problem with a lot of his films. He has made "Amores Perros", probably his best, "21 Grams" and "Babel". I like most of his movies but a lot of critics find him self indulgent. "Biutiful" to me can sometimes be self indulgent but there is greatness scattered in this movie. I just think a little more editing would have made the performances even better. Though I must say if you enjoy great acting you have to see this but you might be more comfortable watching at home so you can take breaks. I will also say that Javier Bardem deserves his Oscar nomination but Alvarez is just as great.

P.S. I love that my spell check says Biutiful is spelled wrong. That is true but that is because Uxbal's daughter had spelled it wrong in a letter to her father, hence the title.