No reviews?? Oh, you people don’t know what you’re missing! Welcome to movie #7 of my world film class, another one from Cuba. And guess what? My good buddy from Strawberry and Chocolate is back! Yayness! I’ll explain why I’m so excited down the road here…

We Begin on One Side of Cuba…
Here we have another sort of life fits together in unexpected ways sort of movie, though without the drastic cuts and flashbacks as some other movies have. It’s all in real time (so to speak).

Aunt Yoyita has returned to visit her daughter, Georgina (Mirta Ibarra, Nancy from Strawberry and Chocolate), and to finally see her one true love, Candido once more. Sadly, she dies during her long sought-for visit. Awww. So Georgina’s husband, Adolfo, who happens to be a mortician for the government, takes it upon himself to find a more efficient way of getting a body from point A to point B using Yoyita as a guinea pig. Yeah, Adolfo’s a real nice guy *cue the eye roll*. So off we go, traveling from city to city, moving the casket from one hearse to the next while Adolfo, Georgina, and Candido follow in a cab (whose driver is a pretty cool guy).

Meanwhile, Mariano (Jorge Perugorría) is busy escaping his current lover, who is claiming to be pregnant. Hmm, that’s a problem. Mariano and his brother drive a truck, hauling this and that from here to there, occasionally picking up people, and Mariano seems to have a girl pining for him at every stop (this is not good news for his brother, poor guy). At a brief pause to get some food, he meets Georgina, who used to be his teacher at school. From there, things really get going, and it’s through twists and turns of fate or mere coincidences that they keep bumping into one another and realities (some not so pleasant) reveal themselves to each character.

…And End at the Other.
Ok, so why do I like Jorge Perugorría so much? He’s a good actor, that’s why! Some might think it would be weird going from a very gay man to an utter ladies’ man, but the difference in appearance and manner make all the difference and instead of thinking, “Wow this is awkward,” I simply thought, “Wow, he is a really good actor.” Seeing Mirta Ilbarra again was fun too, and even though their relationship was drastically different from Strawberry and Chocolate, it wasn’t weird either. I failed to mention that Tomás Gutiérrez Alea directed both this and Strawberry and Chocolate, so I guess it’s not just a Hollywood thing that directors have their favorites when it comes to actors (or composers, haha).

Moving along, this was a very good movie, in acting, music (beware of getting the main song stuck in your head – I left my mid-term humming it and was just doing so not long ago, haha), and plot. The plot itself is very unique and there are a lot of little side things going on, with themes of immortality and mortality, and that creepy little girl in the black dress… She’s the aspect of weirdness I mentioned in the con. It’s not a truly major con, it was just kind of there. One of those things you sit back, look at, and say, “….Well, ok I guess,” to.

There are a lot of things in here that will crack you up, others that may make you say (or think) “Awww,” to, and some things you need to be aware of for them to be amusing. I’ll enlighten you on one of them before I close out. For a while in Cuba there was a two-tier system concerning economics; basically the dollar was allowed in and made national currency virtually worthless or at the very least, unwanted. So when someone on the side of the road offers the group in the cab bananas, the cab driver ends up buying them because Adolfo can’t, and he works for the government so you’d think he’d be good to go. Bam! Outdone by the cabdriver. That guy was cool…

NT

Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age