3 1/2 Stars
Not since Ricky Ricardo has Cuba seemed quite so intriguing to the popular imagination. Even the Elian Gonzalez debacle can't seem to counteract America's newfound affection for Cuban culture.
Following the heels of the Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon is Julian Schnabel's newest film, "Before Night Falls." Once again, anyone with a hint of wanderlust will find themselves aching to visit this land of brilliant color and music.
"Before Night Falls" is the story of Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, who, exiled, impoverished and dying of AIDS, committed suicide in New York in 1990. Schnabel's film is based on the memoir that Arenas left behind.
In this film, we follow Arenas' childhood of exquisitely beautiful poverty and the repression he suffers at the hands of Fidel Castro as a sexually active gay man. Apparently a poet from birth, Arenas looks at his world with appreciative eyes, and Schnabel conveys this in the film.
It's no surprise that the film itself is a tapestry of visuals, from the swaying green trees (sort of like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") to the clear teal water. Images of running water frequently fill the screen. Schnabel, after all, is a painter, and one gets the sense that his works are as much video art as they are movies.
There is also apparently something very attractive to Schnabel about the lives of artists. He made "Basquiat" in 1996 about another artist who died of AIDS. But the two movies have distinctly different moods -- whereas "Basquiat" had a certain lightheartedness about it, "Before Night Falls" is the work of a filmmaker who is concentrating very hard.
Indeed, much of the subject matter merits this seriousness, but at times "Before Night Falls" has the feel of a science-class documentary. On the whole though, this works for Schnabel, and he manages to interweave old newsreel clips and memory sequences of Arenas' mother quite effectively.
