chaos-rampant Most documentaries these days are nothing more than masked narratives, some semblance of reality (often largely fictitious) structured as a story meant to grip. They grip and hold on to. This is not that type, although it's loosely a story. It's more properly a frame, a portal; into the lives of ageing Cuban musicians brought out of retirement and obscurity for one last round, recast as memory of a time and place.Like their music, the film is not about spine-tingling rhythms or crescendos. It is mostly a colorful lull with the sweet pull of a hot summer night. A pull into anecdotes about life in old Cuba and snapshots of the present one. We never get to know any of the players well enough, but we spend with them time enough to soak up the atmosphere of being there.Being there is what the movie is all about. The wise choice of digital video abets this, the palpable immediacy. Wenders' camera tricks are superfluous then, because the material doesn't need any mediating. The only thing required of the camera here is to transport us.And it does. Watching this, I felt like it was the first time I was seeing New York (when eventually the band flies there for one night of apotheosis at the Carnegie Hall). We walk the streets, also back in Cuba. Glimpses of life abound, some spontaneous others not so much. Wonderful architecture, colonial remnants wasting away with the last signs of a revolution heading south. A building sign reads "KARL MA X", the R missing and no one bothered to replace it. But we so rarely get to see these things in movies, that it's a breath of fresh air. But in order for the film to breathe into you, you need to have devoted part of yourself and have an affinity for untravellled cinematic space. For the place, despite the narrative. We get plenty of that here.

Robert_Woodward I was recently lucky enough to be dragged along to a one-off re-screening of Wim Wenders' film about the eponymous musical institution in Cuba. I say dragged since I had beforehand formed the opinion that there was not much to like in Cuban music, but I came away with a very different view.At the heart of the film is a simple structure whereby each member of the revived and reunited Cuban band are interviewed about their lives and the part that they play musically. The live performances that open the film are given an extended and exhilarating showing at the climax. This format is very successful in picking out the subtleties and stories behind each voice and instrument in the band and by the film's finale I found that I could hear more clearly and read much more into each part being performed. The layers of the film thus illuminate the layers in the music and before the film was through it struck me as truly awe-inspiring to hear so many virtuoso performances weaving in and out of the overall sound.The film is also startling for its then-innovative use of hand-held cameras to shoot footage of performances, recording sessions and interviews. The camera rarely feels like an intruder and some very amusing scenes are captured on film (the guys playing dominos was a favourite moment for me).Anyone with an interest in music needs to see this film.

bob the moo In a tribute to the spirit of Cuba and in reference to a dance hall that has long since gone, a group of elderly Cuban musicians to record an album together. Many of the musicians either left Cuba before Castro or were expelled or escaped once he took control. Each artist has a story to tell and they tell them while we follow the group perform a show and putting together their album, leading to the show at Carnegie Hall in New Yok on 1st July 1998.Although it is not something I listen to a lot, I do quite like the beat and the rhythm of music from Cuba – it has a certain style to it that is unique to that country and it is very easy to listen to or to dance to. For this reason I decided to watch this film although I also had hopes that it would be interesting as a documentary of sorts as well. In one regard the film really works and has plenty of great music performed live by a variety of artists, some of whom I had heard of but the majority I had not. It is very easy to listen to and would almost work as background music if you doing something else. This is punctuated with contributions from the artists who are filmed walking around Cuba or sitting in their homes talking about themselves.These bits tend to lack structure and are a bit lesser than I had hoped they would be. They were still interesting mainly because those involved seem to have a life experience behind them and are interesting just to listen to for a while. The problem for me was that, even as I was watching it, I felt that there were bigger stories behind them that would have acted well as a historical frame for the rest of the film and been for interest to the audience; although maybe the assumption was that anyone watching this film would already have a good working knowledge of Cuba. Despite that I didn't think that I had learned a great deal from the film even if I had been able to listen to a couple of the artists chatting and had been engaged by what they had been saying.Overall this is a cool film that is worth seeing for the music and the chance to listen to some very pleasant and rather inspiring elderly characters who all seem to have the spirit of 20 year olds in them. It may annoy some that the film never really steps behind the stories to provide a bit of a historical frame for the audience – it would have made it better for me if it had but it was still worth seeing nonetheless.

tcubric I would like to start off by saying how angry and distressed i was to read the foul narrow minded commentary by whichever person wrote the review stating that it is the worst documentary and a complete hash in fact i don't blame him/her that much because we are all in titled to our own opinions but IMDb should not have put that as the main page of this movie's commentary. The person who wrote this commentary is obviously incapable of watching and giving credit to anything apart from big budget Hollywood American stereotype films. therefore do not take it as a exact review.Unless you are not a musician it is quite hard to not like this movie. why? because (i have actually forgotten all of their names so if you bare with me)these ageing Cubans don't read music they don't have the best instruments, all except one have not had a musical education they don't have the money to muck around with these things they have been gifted with the basic. An instrument and they go on from there so having taken all of this into account they produce an emotional salsa with beautiful lyrics and sound ,not frankly giving a damn about their badly made instruments they embraced what they had and sheer determination and musical talent and a drop of luck brought them to the prestigious Carnegie hall in new york. most of them hadn't even stepped a foot out of heir own town let alone a different country.And to see their faces when the crowd started applauding is unbelievable you can read their minds they just can not believe that they are there. so as they are walking round New York streets admiring each figure in every glass window they seem like children lost in Disney land but once they have been given their microphone or piano or guitar they come to their own and you give them fully credited respect and they look in control.By America cutting them off from advanced technology of the day all of there cars in the streets are some old Reno's and Beatles paint drying of the city walls bumpy roads the burning sun the public bus made out of old cars and trucks painted pink and their simple humble homes beautiful men and women. and children who are still children not dressing over their age or acting like twenty year old women its almost impossible to not fall under charm of the Cuban people.Yes this documentary was filmed badly with rubbish cameras but doesn't that add to the whole thing? i think so. So if you have actually kept on reading to this point you must have at least some interest in the film then give it a go if you are different and not American glazed then i guarantee you will love it. it is by far the best documentary i have ever seen.