Review by Jenny Priestley
Stars Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Eduard Fernandez, Diaryatou Daff, Hanaa Bouchaib, Lang Sofia Lin
Written by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Armando Bo
& Nicolas Giacobone
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 147 minutes
Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Biutiful is a dark film, not just in tone but also in its visuals. There's very little light here but that shouldn't put you off, it's still a very good film with a particularly good central performance.
Bardem is Uxbal, estranged from his bi-polar wife and struggling to bring up his two kids in the part of Barcelona no tourists would ever stray. Then he's told he has terminal cancer. What follows is the story of a man trying to do right by all his connections before the inevitable happens. He earns his living working for two dodgy Chinese sweatshop owners, keeping an eye on the factory workers and also overseeing the illegal immigrants who sell the factory's goods out on the street. Uxbal is a man who knows how to play the system, bribing one of the local police officers to turn a blind eye, he has many balls that he keeps in the air, but when he faces his own demise the balls all start to drop.
Within the story is a strand about Uxbal being able to communicate with the dead which I felt didn't need to be there. It's an absorbing enough story that really doesn't need any supernatural elements and, I think, almost sullies the rest of the story. There's also a plot development that's so obvious and sign-posted that you just sit there waiting for it to happen.
Bardem is on excellent form and I'm surprised he's not featured in awards season. Maybe this is because the film's in Spanish, maybe it's because it's hard work at times, but it's a shame he's not getting the recognition he deserves. As the inevitable ending draws ever closer, his portrayal of the desparate father breaks your heart. Bardem is ably assisted by the rest of the cast, all unknowns to an English speaking audience, with particular credit to Alvarez who plays Uxbal's flighty wife Marambra. As I said, this is hard-going at times, but in the end it's also worth it. As a story of a father's love for his kids (which is the real heart of the film), there's little that can beat it.