Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5039036008822
Format: PAL
Number Of Discs: 1
Region Code: 2
Sales Rank: 161942
Theatrical Release Date: January 26, 2001
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Based on the posthumously published memoir by Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls is artist-director Julian Schnabel's second exercise in artist biography, but where Schnabel's earlier film Basquiat was relatively conventional, this film is bolder in both style and execution. Schnabel is perhaps too enamored of his subject as a noble martyr, lending the film a somewhat inflated sense of importance. Still, it's rare to see an artist's life and work so elegantly interwoven, and Before Night Falls uses all of Arenas's life as its canvas, from impoverished youth to lively gay freedom in mid-1950's Cuba; imprisonment during Castro's antigay regime; and to New York City in 1980, followed by Arenas's battle with AIDS and subsequent suicide (depicted here as assisted) in 1990.
Through these extreme rises and falls, Arenas is always writing, his typewriter his most faithful lover and weapon (by way of smuggled manuscripts) against the dark forces that surround him. As Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, Arenas is 'a serious actor's dream role: to be a gay Jesus in a modern Passion Play,' and Javier Bardem--the first Spanish actor to receive an Oscar nomination--inhabits the role with subtle ferocity, charting this emotional odyssey with outer reserve but blazing infernos of internal passion. And while Schnabel suffers from a hyperactive camera, there's poetry here--visual, dramatic, and literal--and vibrant humor to temper the deep tragedy of Arenas's life. Schnabel also uses his actor friends to good advantage: a nearly unrecognizable Sean Penn adds an ironic touch to his brief appearance as a peasant, and Johnny Depp is both funny and fearsome in dual roles as a drag queen and vicious army interrogator. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Struggle against repression
This is an artistic and visually bold film about the life of a gay talented poet and writer in the time of the Cuban Revolution. Javier Bardem is excellent as poet Reinaldo Arenas, a peasant child who becomes one of Cuba's great writers. The film takes us from the first days of the Cuban revolution to the dark days of totalitarian repression of all sexuality and creativity that is not condoned by the state.
This is an excellent film, visually compelling with a narrative flow that is not smooth or consistent, but totally engaging all the same. The film artfully and entertainingly deals with the concept of whether and how the work of the artist and the actual life of the artist and then the later artistic depiction of the life of the artist are integrated. Schnabel does an excellent job of taking on this challenge, revealing the passages in the life of the artist that impact his work. Reinaldo Arenas made art from his life experiences but was able to maintain a surreal and absurdist aspect to the writing. Schnabel does this perfectly with his short collage like film-making, that is almost dream like with its entrances and exits of characters with little introduction or resolution. At first I thought this was a weakness of the film. Why were so many handsome men coming into Arenas' life and then leaving his life? Why were so many artists and writers his friends and allies and then they disappear? The more I thought about the film the more it became evident to me that this is the nature ... Read More
Rating: - Bardem's masterclass performance helps reign in the incoherencies...
I admit to knowing nothing about poet Reinaldo Arenas before sitting down to watch `Before Night Falls'. In fact, the only reason I had decided to give this a try in the first place was all the hype heaped upon Bardem's Oscar nominated performance. At the time of my first viewing I was less than impressed. Sure, it was a decent movie and I was wholly blown away by Bardem's heartbreaking performance, but in the end it just was not my cup of tea. Recently I decided to revisit this film and upon a second viewing I must say that, while it still has it's detractors, it comes off very sincere and heartfelt; as if it meant something to everyone involved, and that feeling transcends the screen.
`Before Night Falls' is adapted from Arenas memoir of the same name. The film covers his life from birth till death (euthanasia) with an emotional pull that a lot of biopic's lack. You can tell that director Julian Schnabel is longing to do justice to this man he obviously admires. This emotional resonance can be attributed in large part to Bardem. Javier Bardem (who recently was able to tag `Academy Award Winner' to his name) has always been an intriguing actor, one that slips into his roles and draws the audience in. Of all his work (that I have seen, for I haven't seen everything) this is his finest performance. He truly burrows beneath Arenas and causes his entire being to fester at the surface, uncovering the man he really was.
This is of the utmost importance, because `Before ... Read More
Rating: - Fighting for Freedom
Powerful screenplay based on the autobiography of the exiled Cuban author, Reinaldo Arenas.
Arenas was a gay Cuban author and poet who was persecuted by the Castro regime and fled Cuba in 1980 (the Mariel Boat-lift) and ended up in New York City, where he continued to write and rail against the Communists. In 1990, stricken with AIDS and without health insurance, he committed suicide with drugs and alcohol. It's a painful and heart-wrenching story, but the acting is superb and there are moments of true mirth along with those of care and tenderness. Javier Bardem is fabulous playing Arenas in this movie!
Recommended!
Rating: - An excellent film about Cuba under Fidel and his oppression of intellectuals
This film gives the viewer an insight into Castro's take over of Cuba. The acting is superb. It is a look into the life of a gay cuban writer from birth to death and his stuggle as an artist in a society where free thought and speech are forbidden. The film also shows the suffering of a homosexual as an outcast in that society. Gives the viewer an insight into human rights issues in Cuba after the revolution and a "big brother" regime is instituted. The cameo's by Johnny Depp and Sean Penn are amazing.
Rating: - Thank you
Thank you for sendin g this movie so fast. It was a great movie and Johnny Depp looks good as a blonde woman.
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