Biutiful

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Biutiful was on my list of things to see at the DCA this weekend. My rating 6.1/10

I liked this film, but I don't know if I enjoyed it. As my mother would say, it wasn't very uplifting. Not that I have anything against a realistic and perhaps depressing end to a film, but one without much of a glimmer of hope: it was perhaps a little much for a sleepy Sunday evening. Maybe I should just stop going to the cinema on a Sunday night.

The boy Mateo was my favourite, a babe. His table etiquette reminded me of myself circa Indian buffet a few weeks ago. Continental boys are so cute with their olive skin and dark eyes, especially when they have those mullets. Mmm Mmm Mmmmmmm, love a mullet. The innocence of children is so delightful to watch - like how he kept telling his dad about owl pellets.. Also can't help but feel some kind of a connection when a character shares my name...so Ana was nice. =I got a terrible wave of guilt as she was gifted her grandmother's precious diamond ring though, as I remembered the precious family heir loom I recently misplaced....

The part of the story about the Chinese immigrants was pretty sad. To think that a life in a freezing basement eating bread and little else is better than what's on offer back home is pretty awful. I found the scene of bodies lying in the morning light on the beach pretty chilling – the contrast between the sunrise – a fresh start – and death the end of their “new start”. People can be really nasty....

The character of the mother I found really heartbreaking. I can't imagine how hard it must be to live with something like that. This woman obviously loves her children, but does that mean she always has their best interests at heart? She constantly struggles to keep the man she loves but at the next turn undoes all good intentions and burns her own bridges. Mental health issues seem to me to be so common and yet there is still this sense of mystery and almost superstition about it all... Black Swan was an extreme version...but I wonder how extreme it seems to someone who has gone through it themselves. It made me feel even worse for the the father. He obviously cared very much for this woman, and wanted to part of a loving family - but how much responsibility can you take for someone elses mistakes? What is reasonable to expect from a partner...

One part of this film I really didn't enjoy was the bodies on the ceiling. Just looked silly - like it belonged in a Japanese horror film.
Ultimately you just feel so sorry for the father - trying to do the best for his kids, trying to stand by the immigrants he is finding work...
I would like to know why prostatic cancer causes his pee to turn red though. Didn't get that. Kept playing on my mind.
One really poignant moment was when Uxbal (cracking name!) met his embalmed, extradited father in the morgue. How strange it must be to meet your father when he is younger than you? Or even to just never know your own father. Also made me intrigued to learn more about what exactly happened under Franco's rule... Guernica was a fascinating thing to see when I was in Madrid. Need to level up my general/historical knowledge somewhat.
This film left me with lots of unanswered questions.
We never really get an inkling of what might happen to his children after he has died.
What happens to the Chinese factory owners? Do they get punished for their human trafficking?
Does Ige ever see her husband again?
Why can he see dead people, and was that really at all necessary or relevant to any of the rest of the film?

I would love to visit the Pyrenees also. In the snow or otherwise.
And have a lovely handsome, honourable husband. But hopefully one that doesn't die at 45.
I notice I haven't really had many highlights of this film. The part where there are lots of birds flying in front of the sunset is nice.
The soundtrack was also really beautiful.


Other than that, just ate a cracking stuffed aubergine. I'm such a great chef.