with El Langui, Ovono Candela, Javier I. Bustamante...
Two friends, Enrique El Cuajo Heredia and Adolfo make music together in a barrio outside of Barcelona. Cuajo has cerebral palsy but chooses not to resign himself to sitting on the street selling lottery tickets. Adolfo has a heroin problem that he has been trying to kick and lives with his ill, alcoholic father. After getting kicked out of a recording studio when they run out of money, Cuajo decides they should set up a studio of their own. To finance their plans, Cuajo gets them a gig fencing stolen goods from local gangster Marquito. But when things go wrong with Marquito, their friendship, their dreams, and their lives are all in danger.
I just saw this on the festival New Urban Cultures from Spain, at the King Juan Carlos Center of NYU, the main focus being suburban culture. Right on. It is a good and tough movie, very difficult to find hope, except in the main character, he was fascinating. Amazing soundtrack, great acting, good scenario. But that reminded me too much of 1990's French movie La Haine by Matthieu Kassovitz, talking about the ghetto, drugs, violence, power, money... from the inside, with hip-hop musicians. I guess the phenomenon is new in Barcelona, so it felt like the right subject to talk about. Then two years later, Biutiful is again trying to portrait the changes of society in the outskirt of Barcelona. Hoping something can change.
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