From Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, the director of 21 Grams and Babel, Biutiful is a tough, dark film about a man who is walking down a long, troublesome road where only consequences and death await him. The film is gritty and grim, but with the talent and passion of Iñárritu and Javier Bardem, you cannot help but watch and appreciate their craft of storytelling.
Uxbal (Bardem) is on a downward spiral and losing control of everything that is important to him, but he is a man of many talents. He is a shady businessman, a former drug dealer who helps illegal Chinese immigrants find jobs and is even able to connect with the dead. All of this can be done for the right price. But Uxbal is also a father who has two children and their mother is a bipolar prostitute. So it is up to him to make sure they are taken care of and they eat and go to school. But while they are in school, he participates in things that are risky and dangerous.
When he discovers he is dying of cancer, Uxbal begins to try and put everything in its rightful place and starts to really think about his family and who will take care of his children when he is gone. And when he tries to make things right, something else happens that ruins it. He is a man looking for redemption and wanting forgiveness before it’s too late. Bardem takes himself to a dark place in order to play Uxbal. His character is on a journey that has no light at the end of the tunnel. He is only used to an atmosphere of corruption, violence, money and drugs.
On one hand, you try not to allow yourself to like this guy, but when you see him with his children and his love for them, you are still rooting for him no matter what he gets himself in to. This is due to the excellent performance by Bardem. He takes a man who we should despise and turns him in to someone we hope makes it through this and survives. This film takes place in Barcelona and is a Spanish-speaking film, but whether Bardem does a film in English or Spanish, you can see and feel all of his emotions. His talent knows no boundaries and this performance could be his greatest yet.
Iñárritu has not done a film since 2006 (Babel). So he returns in his own language with Bardem to present a film that shows just a glimmer of hope. Biutiful is a compelling yet tragic tale and Iñárritu would not have it any other way. The film centers around one man and his demise. There are so many things going on around Uxbal, but he is always right in the middle of it and right when you think his life couldn’t get any worse—it does. Iñárritu wants to show Uxbal’s weaknesses and strengths for what they are. He keeps the film intimate and sincere and is not afraid to show the terrible side of this world we live in. A side none of us want to know about.
Biutiful is a slow-paced, heartbreaking film. It may very well be something that some people just cannot watch all the way through. But I hope everyone sticks with it because Iñárritu and Bardem give it their all to create an honestly painful and loving story that will captivate and devastate us all.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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