Film Reviews

Before Night Falls

• Director: Julian Schnabel.
• Starring: Javier Bardem, Andrea Di Stefano, Johnny Depp, Oliver Martinez, Sean Penn
• Details: US / 135 mins / (15PG).

In an Academy Award nominated performance, Javier Bardem plays Reinaldo Arenas, a young Cuban homosexual with aspirations of becoming a writer. Leaving his backwater home, Arenas ventures into Havana to make his dream a reality, but as the political climate becomes more draconian in the Cuban capital; anyone who deviates from the communist party ideal is outlawed and detained. Although Schnabel displays an awesome visual flair and a real talent for striking metaphorical imagery, his ability to helm a cohesive narrative is not quite as advanced. Before Night Falls flounders badly in places, apparently unsure of its direction or what it really wants to say. Bardem, however, is the film's saviour. Weighing with a striking performance that borders on the profound for the way he manages to completely inhabit Arenas.

Review by Garreth Murphy