By Kim Choe
Havana, 1948. In the hedonistic days of pre-revolution Cuba, jazz pianist Chico is making a name for himself on the local music scene.
As well as tinkling the ivories, he also plays the ladies, becoming a favourite with holidaying Americans in particular.
Chico seems content with his life of leisure and pleasure, until the night he first hears Rita perform. Her sultry voice silences the clinking of rum bottles in the bar and lingers in the air amongst the cigar smoke. Chico realises he has met his perfect match, in love and in music.
From here, the film leaps into a cat vs mouse chase. Chico pursues Rita relentlessly, but she won’t have a bar of his penchant for multiple women.
The pair resolve their differences long enough to win Havana’s biggest amateur music competition. But before Chico has finished trying to win back Rita’s affections, she’s whisked to the bright lights of New York on the arm of a seductive talent scout.
The story occasionally jumps forward to the present day, from where Chico reflects on what might have been. The city he overlooks is a nice allegory of his life; both showed such promise, but neither managed to live up to it, ending up aged and dilapidated but with plenty of heart.
There’s plenty to engage the senses in this film, which is brought to life in two-dimensional animation. The hand drawings are simplistic, almost crude, but are all the more charming for it. Although this makes it more difficult to think of the characters as real people, it manages to evoke both the mystique of Cuba and the helter-skelter of New York.
Music enthusiasts will note the hat-tips to Cuban jazz greats Tito Puente and Chano Pozo, although it’s somewhat unnerving seeing the latter’s violent demise fictionalised and animated.
The overall result is a titillating, captivating watch. At times it moves too fast and lacks any of the gut-wrenching emotion that would have made it that much more fiery, but it has more than enough charm to make it a worthwhile watch.
Three and a half stars.
Chico and Rita is playing as part of the Spanish Film Festival.
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Chico y Rita (Chico and Rita)
:: Directors: Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, Tono Errando
:: Starring: Limara Meneses, Emar Xor Oña, Mario Guerra
:: Running Time: 94 mins
:: Rating: TBC
:: Official site: Click here
