Biutiful

This is not exactly an uplifting year in the cinema. I don't know, but it seems to me there were a lot of unhappy directors making sad, sad films this year. Many of them were good films but cripes, wasn't anyone happy about having a job in the industry during the Great Recession? Of all the down trodden directors making down beat stories this year the prize has to go to Alejandro Inarritu for his elegy on death and the act of dying, "Biutiful". That's right, you heard me. Elegy on death and the act of dying.
I don't want to give anything away but when Javier Bardem's character gets terminally ill in the beginning of this film, it's the happiest thing that happens for two hours. Have I scared you off? Don't let me.
This is a very good film that has at it's center an extraordinary performance by Bardem as a Spaniard eeking out a living in the slums of Barcelona. His downward spiral and eventual death is a fascinating look at the limits of human endurance in the face of tragic circumstances. Inarritu, who directed the excellent "Babel" a few years ago, dedicates the film to the memory of his father, and the work feels personal and heartfelt in a deep-down achy way. And Javier Bardem is just outstanding, with an outside shot at an Oscar nomination. But really you have to be in the mood for subtitles and misery. Maybe you can plan a double feature and follow it up with something from say.... Pixar, perhaps.