Biutiful
First screened in January 2011 / Most recently screened in January 2019
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu. Cast: Javier Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernández, Diaryatou Daff, Cheikh Ndiaye, George Chibuikwem Chukwuma, Taisheng Cheng, Jin Luo, Lang Sofia Lin, Ana Wagener, Rubén Ochandiano, Karra Elejalde. Screenplay: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Armando Bo, and Nicolás Giacobone.

 Twitter Capsule: (2011) It's a battering ram, sure, but cinematography, sound design, acting, and murky rewrite of social class are very potent.

Second Capsule: (2019) Precise themes unclear. Debatably tasteful. But filmmaking is strong in this study of a crowded, confusing, dying world.

VOR: ④  González Iñárritu typically invites (and often warrants) accusations of tendentious grandiosity but his aims and craft here feel worthy of review.


Photo © 2010 Roadside Attractions/Menageatroz/
Mod Producciones/Televisió de Catalunya

Not yet reviewed in full. Grade: B–

(in January 2011: B+)
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Actor: Javier Bardem
Best Foreign Language Film

Golden Globe Nominations:
Best Foreign Language Film

Other Awards:
Cannes Film Festival: Best Actor (Bardem; tie); Vulcain Prize for the Technical Artist (Leslie Shatz, Bob Beemer, and Jon Taylor for the sound design)
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