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Biutiful [DVD]

1 disc
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

A man tries to reconcile his desire to be good with his lawless ways in this dark drama from Mexican auteur Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu. Uxbal (Javier Bardem) is a man with a bright side and a dark side. Uxbal is a caring father who is strong but affectionate toward his two children, Ana (Hanaa Bouchaib) and Mateo (Guillermo Estrella), and he struggles to maintain a healthy relationship with their mother, Marambra (Maricel lvarez), despite her problems with alcohol and instability. But Uxbal is also a criminal who oversees a small underground empire alongside fellow crime boss Hai (Taisheng Cheng) and Uxbal's impulsive brother, Tito (Eduard Fernndez). Uxbal's dealings range from drugs to construction, but unlike his partners in crime, he tries to treat those around him with dignity even as he trades in human misery. Uxbal's precarious world begins to collapse when he's diagnosed with a serious illness and told he has only a few weeks left to live; he tries to put his affairs in order in the time he has left, but realizes that few around him have any sense of responsibility. BIUTIFUL receives its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
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Credits

Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Eduard Fernandez, Diarytou Daff, Cheng, Taishen
Critic Reviews

4 stars out of 5 -- "[F]erocious filmmaking, directed with lyrical austerity and played with conviction."
Total Film
"Bardem, who received a best actor Oscar nomination for BIUTIFUL, is a vastly human actor....Here he suffers, and is good, and suffers partly simply because he cannot do good things."
Chicago Sun-Times
"Irritu is a filmmaker drawn to dark, layered tales. His collaboration with the soulful Bardem is an inspired one."
USA Today
"In the end, what's most deeply affecting about BIUTIFUL is a face -- Bardem's."
Movieline
"[A]n ethereal yet visceral meditation on living and dying....[Bardem gives] a performance of staggering depth, unquestionably one of the year's best."
Los Angeles Times
"[Bardem] combines muscular, charismatic physicality with an almost delicate sensitivity..."
New York Times
"As for Mr. Bardem, he's ever so much more than a tragic face. He gives this hero tragic grandeur."
Wall Street Journal
"[I]t's a gorgeous, melancholy tone poem about love, fatherhood and guilt....Some scenes are absolutely wrenching to behold."
Hollywood Reporter
4 stars out of 5 -- "[A] riveting, if harrowing piece....Bardem is tremendous here."
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