Review of The Mambo Kings (1992) by Issac L — 04 Aug 2011

The film is kind of a moot for me initially, maybe I don't possess the cultural background of Cuban influence and American living experience. I find the film is an oddball with frustration, the narrative itself is featherweight, all the conflicts and explosive set pieces are squandered, the character moulding process is also bumpy and cursory, all the time what we saw are alternative quarreling between the brothers, sometimes trivial, sometimes sentimental (on the grounds of an appealing Antonio Banderas at his prime youth), otherwise too showy indeed, maybe the whole milieu has some exotic appeal to some people, with regard to me, the effect is a regretful null.

The only saving grace of the film is its Oscar-nominated theme song, the ever famous BEAUTIFUL MARIA OF MY SOUL (could be better interpreted by another singer than Armand Assante), in my opinion the original score by Carlos Franzetti and Robert Kraft contains much more vibrant and soulful vibes.

The two co-leaders Assante and Banderas are uncannily overblown and understated respectively, the bittersweet brotherhood lachrymosity is too gusty to digest. And the counter-part female characters (a chimney-voice Cathy Moriarty and a stolid Maruschka Detmers) all fail to catch their own shining moments. A rather spirit-lifting Celia Cruz is my desperate guilty pleasure (I love her performance during the end-credits).

The scheme of the tragic accident is lousy and abrupt, which furthermore reflects the pompousness and self-consciousness of the ending. The film itself is just another Hollywood throwaway, kitschy and insincere, what a pity, it has Antonio Banderas in his heyday.