BIUTIFUL (Spain/Mexico 2010) ***
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu has never failed to intrigue audiences with his films.  His best film AMORES PERROS was an over energetic, cinematic display of razzle dazzle bringing tying in different stories with the simple theme of bitches (perros).  His 21 GRAMS and BABEL played with narrative as does his latest BIUTIFUL but alas BIUTIFUL is nothing more than a masked melodrama. Alejandro González Iñárritu does Almodovar but not as well!

BIUTIFUL is no easy watch.  Watching a man dying of cancer who is spending the remaining days of his life trying to get sorted while killing a group of Chinese workers accidentally and f***ing his family up even more would hardly be classified as popular Hollywood-type entertainment.  But the dreamy snow white segments at the start and end of the film is the only scenes offering hope at the film’s hero, Uxbal (Javier Bardem from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and JABON JAMBON).

This is a story of a relatively good man, Uxbal in free fall of destruction. On the road to redemption, darkness lights his way. Connected with the afterlife, Uxbal is a tragic hero and father of two who’s sensing the danger of death. He struggles with a tainted reality and a fate that works against him in order to forgive, for love. 

Uxbal deals with his whoring and drinking abusive wife and unworkable work conditions.  Tensions flair, But one feels that all these difficulties are just added for a little spice in the story.  There are too many scenes of Uxbal feeling sorry for himself and feeling sad and hopeless.  And why?  Because the script pours down one misfortune after another upon this character.  The only way out is love, love that Uxbal has to show towards his children, others and even his abusive wife.  Yes, the audience gets the picture already. 

Most of the action takes place in a crowded Spanish town.  BIUTIFUL is the way the people there pronounce the word beautiful.

But with flaws and all, BIUTILFUL made it to the short list for this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar.  See it for its haunting and electronic music and sounds, Bardem’s muted yet intense performance compared to Maricel Alvarez’s over-the-top acting and the impressive dark gloomy cinematography.