Biutiful

I started watching Biutiful last night, more out of curiosity than anything else.  After the trainwreck that was (for me) Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I've been a little hesitant about any film shot in Barcelona in which the city features prominently.  No movie about the city has yet to beat L'Auberge Espagnole as far as I'm concerned, so before I continue, let me just say that if you haven't seen it yet, go out and watch it now.  It is one of my top-five favorite movies.

Anyway, I don't know if I'll actually finish watching it because the video quality is so shoddy that I can barely understand what's going on (it's from a camera, which, I know I know, but, it's all that's offered since the film isn't out on DVD yet) and I'm totally lost.  And it's supposed to be a visually striking movie as well, and, yeah, not seeing it.  I'll probably just end up waiting for the DVD to come out, then I'll be able to watch it and enjoy it like I should.



So yes, Biutiful.  I hated Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which I will post a rant on sometime soon.  I'm not even a huge Javier Bardem fan.  The man can act, but I still have yet to see what's appealing about him otherwise.  But I was pleasantly surprised to find that despite being a primarily Mexican production (which helps), it really has the feel of your average Spanish art film.  Most of the characters are Spanish, speaking Castilian.  But still, my standards are always extremely high when it comes to movies made in Barcelona.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a few Catalan phrases in the dialogues, such as "Molt bé" (very well/okay), and "nano" (boy).  A milk carton in one scene proudly read "llet", the Catalan word for milk, and Bardem's character even said "Entens?" (Do you understand?) at one point.  Which is far more Catalan than VCB featured, and that movie even featured a plot point involving Catalan.  I'm not even going to complain about the Spanish, because this is Barcelona, and in Barcelona there are a ton of people who speak Spanish as a native language.  And the few Catalan phrases stuck in here and there (there was one scene involving a morgue where someone did speak actual sentences in Catalan as well, so there's that too...) made it believable.

I can't say whether I'd recommend it or not, mostly because a. I haven't finished the movie yet, b. it's really crappy quality and I can't figure anything out anyway (and language isn't even an issue for me), and c. I'm not a fan of art/"European" films anyway.  But I can say, as far as being "Catalan-friendly" is concerned, it definitely makes the grade.