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Rumba Love
USA / Cuba 2021
produced by Zair Montes, Guillermo Iván, Olinka Dueñas, Josef Brandmaier (executive), Rafael Levy Micha (executive), Christian Tohmé Hernández (executive), Ilean Almaguer (executive), Salomon Levy (executive), Jorge Padilla (executive), Juan José Moreno Alcantara (executive), Maria Angélica Duenas Perez (executive), Fernando Orozco (executive), Hugo Casillas (executive), Osvaldo de León (executive) for Golden Ceiba Productions
directed by Guillermo Iván
starring Guillermo Iván, Ed Trucco, Zair Montes, Alfredo Diaz, Ariann Murad, Osvaldo de León, Ilean Almaguer, Mauricio Bustamante, Monte Bezell, Erin Fogel, Francesca Van Horne, Roberta Burns, Tim Shelburne, Michael Kingsbaker, Fernando Orozco, Hugo Casillas, Spencer Monaghan, Jim Boerlin, Camilo Miranda Alvarez
written by Guillermo Iván, inspired by the play Ellioko, music by Salomón Lerner
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Years ago, young Nicolas (Guillermo Iván) moved from his native New
Jersey to his ancestral Cuba, to learn about his heritage, and especially
to learn about Cuban music - and apparently he's a good learner as he
proves to be a very talented rumba singer and musician in no time, thanks
in large parts to his mentor Celso (Osvaldo de Léon). But ever since
Celso has died, Nicolas has felt a bit uprooted in Cuba, so when a music
producer (Alfredo Diaz) invites him to come over to New York City, he's
more than happy to follow that calling, also because Celso has always
dreamt of visiting New York one day. But New York doesn't turn out to be
all its promised. First Nicolas learns that the music producer is a fraud,
then he alienates Celso's wife Telmaris, whom he has had an affair with
after Celso's death, by bringing Celso's ashes, then all his belongings
are stolen from him, and with nowhere to stay he has to learn that even
public parks don't have benches for just any bum. But then he stumbles
into the Blue Bird, a club somehow connected to Celso's past, even
if Celso has never been in New York City - and somehow the club and
especially its owner Jim (Ed Trucco), change Nicolas' outlook on life
forever ... Now the first thing everyone will probably notice
about this movie is its cool, rumba-heavy soundtrack that seems to require
at least toe-tapping almost by definition - but that said, Rumba Love
is more than just pretty pictures set to music, it tells a quite
compelling story as well that really gets to one because it neither
follows a romance nor a rags-to-riches formula but goes for complexity
(even if some story elements are a bit far-fetched). And a very dynamic
directorial effort that perfectly blends music and pictures in all the
right moment make this a very watchable (and extremely listenable) movie
for sure.
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Robots and rats,
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the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
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