Biutiful

2010 drama

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Uxbal does his best to raise his two children alone while dealing with health and job problems.

I just made the plot of this movie sound really trite. It wasn't intentional. This movie is really way too long because nobody wants to be pummeled with this much bleakness for around two and a half hours. If I wanted that, I'd just sit and think about my life for a couple hours.

Javier Bardem's performance makes this movie. Watching him, you've got no choice but feel the performance deeply. I don't know if it's his giant face or what, but there's this rich combination of stoicism and fragility that not only creates this character but places decades of humanity on his shoulders for him to carry around for a while. Perhaps that's why he slouches.

I don't think I'll fee the need to ever see this again, but it'll probably be in my bones for a while. Or maybe I'll just remember the three or four scenes where Bardem urinates in a funny color and nothing else.