Kapten Video
The popculture's one of the more iconic real-life drug barons Pablo Escobar returns to screen, played by Javier Bardem.The notorious man's rule and eventual fall are portrayed by the perspective of a journalist (Penélope Cruz) who was his long-time lover - the screenplay is based on the book that she published.A real-life epic drama, starred by two of the Spanish cinema's biggest gifts to modern Hollywood? It is easy to imagine this being a vanity project with not much real depth or dramatic heft.And you would be right to think that. "Loving Pablo" is more about the excitement of watching Bardem and Cruz re-enacting the great soap opera / crime story than giving intellectually exciting excursion to the mind and life of the great mr Escobar.There's nothing markedly unique about the story, just more rehashing of popular "greed is good" and mafia cliches that we've witnessed in mainstream movies and series released in the last thirty years or so (since Oliver Stone invented them for "Wall Street").The character- and relationship development in the centre of the story feel functional but overall shallow. Sometimes the narrator just conveniently mentions something to add important new information which one can't just deduce from seen events. For example that Virginia was afraid of Pablo too, and Pable often cheated on her also.Maybe the new, 16 minutes shorter cinema cut is to blame? IMDb and some reviews suggest is should last 123 minutes instead of 107. The longer version's additional material may have made the story better.But one can't argue with the movie's two biggest trumps which make it easily worth the ticket price or time spent.Firstly, the adrenaline-soaked violence. Sure, there is a great number of movies and series out there that make killing and hurting people look cool, as opposed to real life where it seems much more horrifying and much less less picturesque.But "Loving Pablo" is really in the league of its own, all this killing business looks amazing and visually inventive. R-rating well earned. Not that I condone violence in real life... but still.Secondly, Bardem, great as always. Witnessing his mesmerizing performance as the drug lord is a pleasure indeed.I do not especially care how realistic his approach to the real-life Escobar is - don't think it matters, really - but Bardem looks every inch as sly and dangerous human beast as the kingpin must have been in his lifetime. Lifeless, half-shut, lurking eyes, curled hair, pot-belly... he creates a powerful and memorable cinematic gangster for sure.Also, I may be the only one to say this, but I'd like to see Nicolas Cage fill this role. Watching Bardem, I constantly felt that Cage would also be great as this character.Cruz is good too but she's more of a supporting player, and her character is not fascinating in her own right. More like a decoration in the great big painting of Escobar's life."Loving Pablo" was first released in Venice Film Festival last September, but the distributors have made a wise choice to release it widely this summer instead.Wise because it's entertaining cinema but a rather shallow movie, easily watchable and digestible on the go. In other words, good for summer season.
