Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Biutiful,” his first film following the rupture with longtime collaborator and screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, debuted at the Cannes Film Festival to largely mixed reviews. While Javier Bardem earned near-universal praise for his performance, the film failed to resonate on the Croisette. We called it “impeccably acted, wonderfully shot and assuredly put together,” but also a thematically muddled and depressing “slog.” The film follows Uxbal — who can communicate with the dead, has an uneasy relationship with his bi-polar ex-wife and is juggling a handful of slowly spiraling black market deals — in his last days as he tries to set things right before he passes away from terminal cancer (yeah, that’s the reason Bardem looks positively beat up on the pictured poster). And it would appear the film’s lukewarm reception and difficult subject matter are making it a tough sell to domestic distributors.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Focus Features International which is repping the film outside the U.S., has secured deals for the film in the U.K., Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Israel, Greece, Switzerland and a handful of Scandinavian countries. However a deal with a U.S. distributor has still not been signed.
We’re not particularly surprised. Unfortunately, given the current cinematic climate, a 2-hour-20-minute-long depressing Spanish language film, even directed by someone as highly regarded as Iñárritu and starring Bardem, is a difficult proposition. However, if Bardem begins to get someone award season buzz behind him — and yes, his performance is that good — we guess that distributors might be more keen to come on board. However, it seems that for now, they are taking a wait-and-see approach.
