"Biutiful" (2010) Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

“To my beautiful old oak — My Father”.

Written by the Director with Armando Bo and Nicolas Giacobone, Biutiful (Beautiful) is a Spanish language film as we follow “Uxbal” (Javier Bardem) trying to find peace with life as he comes to terms with terminal cancer. Separated from his wife “Marambra” (Maricel Alvarez) and single Father to children “Ana” (Hanaa Bouchaib) and “Mateo” (Guillermo Estrella), his work is never fully explained and spans assisting with the illegal trafficking of Chinese workers, assisting African immigrant street vendors and (not fully explained) being able to speak with the dead. All strands are shown early in the film, but neither is fully detailed and purposely left vague. Beginning and ending with the same two merged scenes, an Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu theme of looping, non-linear narrative is again used, however this is the only occasion as the remainder of the film follows a traditional time line narrative.

Javier Bardem is truly outstanding, is in every scene and commands the screen throughout. Ably supported by Maricel Alvarez as his separated Wife, her performance of a depressed, alcohol dependant spouse is as superb as it is heart breaking. A cast of supporting actors across family/work/health support are used sparingly, but the concentration is on Bardem as we follow his physical and mental deterioration. The only minor criticism are the few minor narrative strands that are either not fully explored, or fully resolved, but the positives far outweigh this.

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The above opening paragraphs are taken from my spoiler free review of "Biutiful" and one of my earliest forays into film writing and film appreciation over a decade ago. This review was transferred to my Medium blog site on 21st December 2022 and can now be read in full and for free via my Substack blog site and original updated article linked immediately below:

https://ramblingmusings666.substack.com/p/biutiful-2010-91d1716e59be

This spoiler free review is also integral to volume 1 of my 7 volumes of "essential film reviews collection". Currently only available as an e-book, all 7 exhaustive volumes of multiple spoiler free film reviews are priced at £4.99 however, should you have an Amazon Kindle "Unlimited" package you can read each and every volume for free.

Volume 1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C4HHDL56

All 7 Volume Collection

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C4HZSTTH?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn

https://www.patreon.com/TheBlackfordBookClub
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