Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Updates:

Little Ashes (2008)

Director: Paul Morrison

Time Out rating

Average user rating

2 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Madrid, 1922, the meeting point for the young Federico García Lorca and Salvador Dalí, and the sexual tensions between playwright and painter that come to play a part in their emotional and artistic coming of age. Well, that’s the theory in this speculative biopic whose material intrigues, but whose achievement is patchy.

Balancing the history with the drama of the relationships proves intractable, resulting in a frustratingly bitty time-structure, while the decision to shoot the film in Spanish-accented English doesn’t make the dialogue less awkward. The cast do their bit at sustaining the boho ferment, Javier Beltrán smouldering as Lorca, while ‘Twilight’ heartthrob Robert Pattinson throws himself into the extremes of the young Dalí. In the end, it doesn’t satisfy as fact-based bio or love story, but we appreciate the effort.

Author: Trevor Johnston 2009-05-05 11:52:22

Time Out London Issue 2020, May 7-13, 2009

Bookmark

User reviews of this film

VictoriaRusso said...

Posted on Sep 04 2009 18:00 So wrong on so many levels. How on earth could a director make a movie and not use all the resources he had? First of all, Spanish language - it's passionate, earthy, funny and sounds artistic for others. It could add such a passion for a whole movie and create atmosphere. If you are making a movie about such a great poet as Federico Garcia Lorca, why not use his instrument? English accent combined with weird Spanish accent makes this film look like a joke.
Second resource - Spanish landscape and colour palette. If you are making a movie about such a great artist as Dali, why not to use his language - his colours, give a vision of the world through his eyes? A script maybe isn't perfect but it does suggest using these resources. when Dali asks what should he wear - green or blue, it's so much more than a crazy question!
And third - actors, they are young, for God's sake. Unleash them, let them have fun and go crazy. Only Marina Gatell as Magdalena gave a sincere performance. Others look like they were told what to do and those two genius were never told what to do. You could use Pattinson good looks and make camera love him unveiling raw magnetism that Dali had.

Report as inappropriate
londongirl said...

Posted on May 17 2009 08:42 I saw this film last night and thought it a shame it hadn't got better reviews or a wider release...it was a really touching, interesting film with some great performances. Perhaps unfairly i hadn't realised Robert Pattison was such a good actor.

Report as inappropriate