Much character, little beauty.By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
The title, Biutiful, expresses the bastardized world of convoluted misery lived in daily by Uxbal (Javier Bardem) and his family in Barcelona. The illegal immigrant activity he is involved in gives no respite and a great tragedy hurls him further into the abyss of poverty.
But most distressing is the cancer diagnosis that puts him on the fast track to death. As he tries to make peace with his family, including a dead father he never knew, and keep his life together, it seems to be slipping away in every way, from his junkie, partying wife, Marambra (Maricel Alvarez), who is an abusive mother to his children, to his failure to provide for the children.
Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is a master of the gritty reality (Amores Perros and 21 grams for instance), especially as his close-up camera tracks Uxbal's decline in Bardem's deteriorating face and claustrophobic apartments and alleys of Barcelona's barrio.
If Uxbal were a more interesting character, Biutiful would have been a more interesting film, notwithstanding the magical realism possibilities in calling back his father. The snowy forest scene framing the film with his young father is a cinematic tour de force.
As it is, the days are filled with rambling from one disaster to another, including Uxbal's erratic, drugged up wife. We are left with a Cannes-winning performance by Bardem and some deeper possibilities left on the surface.
The character exposition is first rate; the character is less so.
John DeSando co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee, which can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com