Review of Biutiful (2010) by Dickie L — 28 Mar 2011

That Mexican master of misery, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, is back with another brilliant and depressing work about very unfortunate things happening to well-meaning people. He may have finished his trilogy with screenwriter Arriaga, comprising Amores Perros, 21 Grams and Babel, but his latest effort isn't much different in tone and theme from those films.

This is a thoroughly engrossing and visceral tale of a man with advanced cancer trying to sort his family and business affairs into order before he dies. Although the whole cast is perfect, Javier Bardem's performance towers over everything.

By my reckoning he's already been robbed of 2 Oscars, for Before Night Falls and The Sea Inside, and I think he should've got one for this too. There's a profound meloncholy that pervades the film, and many scenes range from the quietly unsettling to the downright disturbing.

Probably not what the Barcelona tourist industry would like people to rush out and see. the city has rarely looked so squalid.