Review of Biutiful (2010) by Josh B — 13 Jul 2011

In the late 2010 awards season push, there was a film that I just missed called Biutiful. I heard the praise for the film and its lead performance from Javier Bardem, I should've caught it sooner because it's an exceptional work of art and the praise was well deserved. It's the harrowing tale of Uxbal (Javier Bardem) balancing his family life and his job as a run-between for the authorities and seedy criminals on the rough streets of Barcelona, and the weight he is forced to carry on his conscience because of that constant struggle.

Uxbal is a street hustler. He's been at a while so he has all the connections he needs to administer bribes to police officers from sweat shop owners, aide in drug trafficking, or just coordinate territories of street corners open for illegal street vendors to trade. He's also a spiritual shaman of sorts; he can communicate with the dead, and in some ways seems to be haunted by them as he makes the trek amongst the filth and deceit of the Barcelona streets. Uxbal learns that he has cancer and can see his own death coming. This makes each and every move he makes on the street and with his family magnified. Uxbal has two young children, and they live in small, cluttered apartment. The children's mother (a ludicrously good Maricel Alvarez) is not around since her bipolar disorder led to divorce, so Uxbal tries his best to keep them in line but when he's out on the streets, and their mentally ill mother comes in and out of their lives it's an uphill battle. Be prepared for one of the biggest Debbie Downer movies you've seen in a long time. The dirtiness and desperation of Barcelona's inner city exudes from the screen. It's sad to watch Uxbal's struggle, and to see a man with a good heart struggle with heavy choices. Javier Bardem embodies the heart and soul of Uxbal and seems to carry the sadness of the Barcelona streets in his eyes. It's an impressive performance that bolsters an already impressive resume that includes his Oscar win for No Country for Old Men and a great turn in 2005's import The Sea Inside.

Writer-director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu was already known for brilliantly depicting gritty foreign landscapes (Babel) and tackling heavy drama (21 Grams), but in Biutiful he combines the two in such a way that the ugliness and desperation of the characters and the world they dwell in ends up being trumped by the human spirit allowing us to have compassion. It's a film that the look, writing, and acting are so good we tend to look past the ugliness periodically throughout. Sometimes you can just get lost in someone's personal story, and that is surely the case with Uxbal.

-JB.