The Lost City (2005)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B-
He
struggle over Cuba is as much an ideological one as physical one. Though Batista was a huge dictator whose
overreaching hold on power led to his overthrow, there are still romantic
notions about Cuba in his time simply because it was a Cuba with a living
culture that had not been ethnically cleansed by Castro and has suffered from
its Socialist/Communist state ever since.
That it is still surviving in the same form long after the collapse of
The Soviet Union is amazing. At the risk
of not being able to separate Batista from the great culture around him, actor
Andy Garcia is the latest director to take on the subject with his ambitious The Lost City.
Released
in 2005 and running 144 minutes, the intent is an epic, to make an epic
statement and recapture the best of the time in cinematically epic form. Like past attempts like the awkward Sean
Connery film Cuba, I still do not
think the big statement is made here, especially since Garcia is rightly so
proud and in love with the art and high culture of the time, but it seems the
Guillermo Cabrera Infante book is a rich enough source to give this film its
moments.
Garcia
plays the owner of the swankiest club around, with the best entertainment and
it can only remind one of Coppola’s vivid sequences in Godfather II, a film this one echoes more than a few times. Unfortunately, it is not as memorable in the
same instances, like Coppola and Puzo’s grasp of the implications of the revolution
upon the country and this film eventually is in more of a fantasy/romance
direction since its project is to celebrate a Cuba that was and Cuban-Americans
would like to restore (hopefully minus dictatorial Batista Fascism) once the
hoped-for Castro collapse might happen when he passes on.
Dustin
Hoffman and Bill Murray make pleasant appearances and Inez Sastre is not bad as
the love interest of Garcia’s Fico Fellove.
Of course, Garcia was a big new character in Coppola’s 1990 Godfather III, but that never stuck and
he never reprised his role. This film is
at least as good and even when it does not work, its ambitions are always fun
to watch since Garcia really put him heart and soul noticeably into this. It is a mature film about something important,
important to him and another disturbing chapter in how easy it is to destroy a
heart and soul culture that is still the pride of a past Cuba long gone but far
from dead.
The 1.78
X 1 image is colorful, but has some detail issues in this transfer. Emmanuel Kadosh’s cinematography is more in
the Classical Hollywood mode than what you would find in Godfather II, which has its advantages and disadvantages. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not bad, though
nothing extraordinary, with gunshots sounding a bit off throughout of all
things. Music is highlighted and an
integral part of the narrative in building the past. Extras include an audio commentary by Garcia,
co-star Nestor Carbonelli and Production Designer Waldemar Kalinowski, a making
of featurette, behind-the-scenes stills, deleted scenes with optional
commentary and text on the cast and crew.
Along with the film, this is very interesting material and a DVD
definitely worth your time.
- Nicholas Sheffo
