Before Night Falls
Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn
To Fidel Castro, Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo
Arenas was double trouble. A writer, he obeyed
only his imagination. A homosexual, he followed
his longings without hesitation. Consequently his
life was one of suffering, including two years in a
hellhole prison before he fled in 1980 as one of the
Mariel boat people bound for Florida. Impoverished
and sick with AIDS, he died in Manhattan in 1990.
Yet his great memoir, the source of this luminous
movie, blazes with love for art and life. Bardem with Depp in drag.
As Arenas, Bardem, a Spanish star who looks like Raul Julia crossed with Brendan Fraser, is extraordinary -- delicate yet unconquerable -- in his first English-language role. Depp has two small roles: a transvestite and a prison official. He's better in drag. (R)
Bottom Line: Night to remember
-- TOM GLIATTO
Posted on January 18, 2001 |
