7 Days in Havana (15)

Time Out says

Tue Jul 3 2012

You get the feeling that the global big-hitters directing these written-on-a-napkin short films about Cuba are working on a bit of a holiday go-slow. There’s a film for every day of the week and the best by miles is from Pablo Trapero, the celebrated young Argentinian director of ‘Lion’s Den’ and ‘Carancho’. Serbian director Emir Kusturica, who stars in Trapero’s film as himself, is in Havana to collect an award. But Kusturica  – this drunken, shambolic version of him, at least – is every bit as unpredictable, anarchic and (irresistibly) maddening as his films: rolling off the plane drunk, and throwing up before buggering off with his driver. He’s a joy to watch. In French provocateur Gaspar Noé’s film, a teenage girl is subjected to a freaky exorcism by a shaman. Benicio Del Toro makes his directing debut with a film starring Josh Hutcherson (‘The Hunger Games’) as a wet-behind-the ears American kid who makes a schoolboy error when picking up a woman (or so it seems) in a bar. But there are more misses than hits, and a week feels like a long time in Cuba.

Author: Cath Clarke