Buena Vista Social Club

Rating:
Summary: How could you think anything else?
Review: I was told to watch this DVD by my daughters who were captivated by this documentary of muscial talents. I was not sure I would, could, relate to their "tastes" in musical and artist splender, until I watched the DVD of "The Buena Vista Social Club". Such an amazing story, such brillant musical tallent; it's impossible to describe! You have to see it to "experience" the "Buena Vista Social Club".

Rating:
Summary: Fantastico!
Review: If I were to die and go to Heaven, this is the music that would be playing. I call this my "happy music," as it goes straight to the heart and expresses a joy unheard of in any other type of music. After watching the movie, I went out immediately to purchase the cd. The movie and the cd launched a new career for the artists. Ibrahim Ferrer, an exceptional musician, had given up on his music career in Cuba, as he could not get a job. During the filming of this movie, the artists played for a packed house at Carnegie Hall. After singing a solo, Ibrahim Ferrer was stunned as the crowd gave him a standing ovation. The look on his face was one of disbelief and humble surprise. The audience loved him. His career took off and he has gone on to record two other cd's (that I am aware of). I cannot recommend his music enough. If nothing else, please rent, borrow, or steal this movie, as it will be well worth your while to watch. It's an experience!

Rating:
Summary: Musical y emotivo
Review: Este DVD tiene un efecto en cuanta persona lo ve. Es muy emotivo, abre los ojos, hace conocer, respetar y quitarse el sombrero ante la musica cubana. Entrevista y da un perfil de cada musico, Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, Omara Portuondo, Pio Leiva y otros. Ibrahim Ferrer, que vivio toda su vida sin salir de Cuba, en el ocaso de su vida camina por las calles de New York y habla lo que siente (es muy interesante). Mucha musica, conciertos, ensayos en estudio, un final bellisimo. Excelente DVD, excelente inversion.

Rating:
Summary: Stellar
Review: Simply put, fantastic music by fantastic musicians. This DVD is simply stellar.

Rating:
Summary: SHEER JOY!
Review: I don't like to turn a critical eye onto this film. It would be like pointing a flashlight at the moon.

This film is the moon. Just let it alone. Let it happen. It will change you. This music, and these musicians, give us a gift here. A part of ourselves which perhaps we have lost touch with. Watch it and get it back.

And yes, it is deeply moving, and yes, it is sheer joy!

Rating:
Summary: Calle 54, Where Are You?
Review: If there's any disappointment with "Buena Vista Social Club," it's that the film frequently gets in the way of its subject. We see enough of the Havana streets with their pre-Castro corroding American cars and of the dilapidated grand old architecture to want to see more. Are these images--a kind of "urban pastoral"--truly representative of the city, or have they been carefully selected for their ripe, romantic decadence? And we hear enough of the music to wish complete exposure if not immersion in its charms. How would it sound without interruptions--by either the intrusion of Wenders' hyperactive cinematic style or the musical presence of the Cooders (father and son)? But Wenders' perpetual-motion camera runs multiple gyres around each subject and edits at a equally frantic pace, obviously assuming the viewer would not sit still for a minute of music unenhanced by visual gymnastics (this must be the unsteadiest Sony "steadycam" ever to appear in a film). And if Cuba has indigenous guitarists and trap drummers, Cooder apparently was unable to locate them.

I came to this film after being captivated by the similar "Calle 54." This too is a film that frequently calls attention to itself through busy editing and frequent camera movement. The difference, however, is that "Calle 54" approaches each performance with a primary regard for the music itself. Each musical number is complete, and there is never any doubt that a first priority is to capture the sound of the music with the fullest fidelity possible. As a consequence, the music itself takes up residence in the spectator's consciousness, complemented but not replaced by the accompanying images. "Buena Vista Social Club" is more about the covering of an event (the release of the Grammy-winning recording and its aftermath) than the event itself. The musicians and their music deserved better.

Rating:
Summary: LIVING LEGENDS
Review: Directed by the german director Wim Wenders, THE BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB has received the 1999 best european documentary award. And please, take my word for granted, this movie deserves it. And more. Forget Martin Scorsese's THE LAST WALTZ and visit THE BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB !

In 1998, the well-known american guitarist Ry Cooder decides to go to Cuba and to record his new CD with cuban musicians. After a few days in the island, he discovers that a certain number of the musicians who made the Cuban sound of the 1930's and the 1940's are still alive. Hypnotized by these legends like Ibrahim Ferrer and Compay Segundo, he produces the record THE BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB with these old guys and organizes two concerts with them, one in Amsterdam and the other at the Carnegie Hall, in New-York.

These concerts, along with the studio sessions in La Havana, are the spine of the movie. Interviews with the members of this one-and-only record group in their homes, visits of the heart of La Havana are also going to capture your heart. I'm not a specialist of central america music but I was profoundly moved by these old timers who are certainly the fathers of a great part of what we are listening today.

One can also feel the respect of Wim Wenders before these men and women who have preferred to stay, poor and forgotten, in their beloved island, rather than to seek fortune in the U.S.A.

Oh yes ! I forgot. The music and the songs are wonderful. Extras are great, so is the quality of the images and the sound. Attention DVD Empire : it's a widescreen format (1:66). Overall, the DVD deserves the perfect 5.

A DVD for your library.

Rating:
Summary: A Spanish teacher's dream!!
Review: This film is incredible. Its treatment of the Cuban musicians, as well as the delicate handling of the culture as a whole, is fantastic. I showed several Spanish classes the film, some very basic students and some more advanced--all enjoyed it very much, thanks to the humor, vibrance, and beauty of the video. Especially exciting for the students were the scenes in which the band members visit New York.
A wonderful look into the life of some amazing men and women utterly committed to creating clear, beautiful music. Fascinante!

Rating:
Summary: Great music - Disappointing film
Review: Can you imagine someone making a documentary about Beethoven and constantly interrupting his symphonies to have a talking head make numerous comments? To interrupt such magic as heard and performed in this film is just as sacrilege. There is a particular mood to Cuban music that lifts you up and puts you in another state. You are lost in movement and colour. You become a drum, a trumpet, a guitar. You get out of your chair and dance and hug the air. Then like some incessant commercial break you are jarred back into reality. It's SO annoying! Not to mention that it's hard to really listen to what they are saying when there are still traces of clouds in your brain (ever try to follow a conversation when you're drunk or high?). Don't get me wrong, I love the interviews, and the scenery and the whole flavour of this film! I just would have preferred it if Wenders had paid tribute to these performers by letting the music speak its language, then separately, at the beginning or the end, tacked on the interviews and other stuff. Or at least let two or three songs play through at a time. I know, there's always the CD one can listen to all the way, but the energy cast off by these performers as you watch them is integral to the music. That's why people go to see live performances.
I'm looking forward to seeing the DVD and hearing the commentary but my dream DVD would have the music and other stuff separate. I know I'm a perfectionist but when one is nearing an epiphany, it's a harsh thing to have it tugged out of your grasp.

Rating:
Summary: Wrong side of disk?
Review: To the reviewer who saw a pan and scan version... Either flip the disk over or stop buying wildcat copies. The disk is a 2-sided single layer disk. One side is widescreen the other side pan & scan. If you received a disk that played only in pan & scan, it is probably an illegal copy.