Review of Vivo (2021) by Moonprincess70 — 07 Aug 2021

Honestly the portrayal of Cuba was 10/10 spot on. It brought me back to going to El Centro when I was younger. I'm also happy to see a movie that takes place in Miami that isn't about cocaine. This movie feels really authentic and true to the source material, not 100% Coco for Cubans but easily trying it's best.

The music is very Hamilton which is to say quick in parts and deeply emotional in others. Gabi is very much a 2nd or 3rd generation Cuban kid, American but still with Hispanic roots. Gloria Estefan as the clearly Celia Cruz inspired singer does a great job at hosting the emotional notes of the film.

You will cry you will laugh.You can feel a lot of love and research went into this film. (Except for maybe the part with the everglades, they really fell short on researching those parts) and I feel like Egrets would have been a more familiar choice to go with instead of spoonbills.

They definitely tiptoed around the Cuban Embargo as most Cubans would be able to see that as the reason why the main characters were separated and could only communicate via a letter.