Is Leon Ichaso – the director of the salsa biopic, “El Cantante“; about the tragic life of salsa legend Héctor Lavoe (starring Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez) – the Scorsese of Salseros?
A recent NYTimes article about Ichaso’s checkered career has this gem by anti-Castro Cuban filmmaker Jorge Ulla. “Just as Scorsese and Sidney Lumet have given us a New York of corrupt cops and colorful mafiosi, Leon has given us, with his stories of popular singers, a New York of heartbreaks and shattered dreams,” he said.
However, the New York Times review of the film isn’t so kind and essentially says, ” ‘El Cantante’ is less as a movie than as a two-hour promotional video for a must-have soundtrack album.”
Lavoe became a gigantic Latin salsa star in the ’70s, but like so many others grappling with superstardom, he succumbed to the trappings of drugs, became penniless, lived on the streets and eventually died in 1993 of AIDS-related complications.
Of Marc Anthony, the Times said, “[He’s] not much of a screen actor. When the character is not in front of an audience, he seems to recede behind his high, delicate cheekbones and tinted glasses.” Lopez fares better. She apparently “does enough acting for the two of them” and brings a lot of “fight” to her performance.
The rest of the world isnt much kinder to the film, “El Cantante disintegrates into a stylized jumble — even a straightforward jumble would have been preferable,” Salon wrote. And the Village Voice positively slams the film calling it, “A garish, dispiriting bit of work.”
Ouch.
Watch: Hector Lavoe – “El Cantante”
Download: Hector Lavoe “Mi Gente”
Download: Marc Anthony – “Che Che Colé”
“El Cantante” trailer
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
- Rodrigo Perez
