Civil War, Persecution, Escape, Poetic Narrative, Powerful Previews, A True Story... These were the qualities that drew me towards the critically-acclaimed movie, Before Night Falls.
The movie chronicles the true tale of Cuban poet, Reinaldo Arenas (played by Javier Bardem), and his escape from Cuba. After viewing previews of this movie that reminded me of scenes from The Shawshank Redemption, I knew this was a must-see.
Boy, was I wrong.
This was the most raunchy and terribly boring movie I have ever seen. I honestly do not care how many foreign movie awards this film has won--it was plain awful. The scenes detailing homosexual encounters and chalked full of male nudity offended the senses. The story dragged and was not exciting in the least. The narration was indecipherable due to Bardem's thick Cuban accent. Although the direction seemed decent--there were several well-thought, imaginative scenes-- director Julian Schnabel didn't do anything special. However, the most disappointing part of this movie was that the previewed scenes that I was captivated with stunk within the context of the movie.
Sean Penn and Johnny Depp made small cameo appearances that are worth noting. The narration seemed to be the movie's strongest point; however, like I said, it was not understandable most of the time. Bardem does do a fine job playing the lead role and plays the part of the nymphomaniac-effeminate-homosexual-dying of AIDS-poet very well--he pretty much is the movie. Apart from his performance, nothing else stands out (in a positive way).
Bottom line: Please, please, please do not see this movie. I wish I hadn't.
