Buena Vista Social Club (1999)

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writer:

Wim Wenders (writer)

Release Date:

4 June 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Tagline:

Cubas Poesie Cubas Musik, Cubas Menschen, Cubas Poesie [The music of Cuba, the people of Cuba, the poetry of Cuba]

Plot:

Aging Cuban musicians whose talents had been virtually forgotten following Castro's takeover of Cuba, are brought out of retirement by Ry Cooder, who travelled to Havana in order to bring the musicians together, resulting in triumphant performances of extraordinary music, and resurrecting the musicians' careers.

Plot Keywords:

Cuba | Havana Cuba | Interview | Latin America | Caribbean

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 18 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Compay Segundo	...	Himself
Eliades Ochoa	...	Himself
Ry Cooder	...	Himself
Joachim Cooder	...	Himself
Ibrahim Ferrer	...	Himself
Omara Portuondo	...	Herself
Rubén González	...	Himself
Orlando 'Cachaíto' López	...	Himself
Amadito Valdés	...	Himself
Manuel 'Guajiro' Mirabal	...	Himself
Barbarito Torres	...	Himself
Pío Leyva	...	Himself
Manuel 'Puntillita' Licea	...	Himself
Juan de Marcos González	...	Himself
Octavio Calderon	...	Himself - Musician
Manuel Galban	...	Himself - Musician
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Heitor Goldflus	...	Man at a Manhattan Street
Salvador Repilado Labrada	...	Himself - Musician (as Salvador Repilado)
Benito Suárez Magana	...	Himself - Musician (as Benito Suárez)
Alberto 'Virgilio' Valdés	...	Himself - Musician
Lázaro Villa	...	Himself - Musician
Carlos González	...	Himself (uncredited)

Directed by
Wim Wenders

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Wim Wenders		writer

Produced by
Rosa Bosch	....	associate producer
Ulrich Felsberg	....	executive producer
Ulrich Felsberg	....	producer
Deepak Nayar	....	producer

Film Editing by
Brian Johnson

Production Management
Kristi Lake	....	post-production supervisor
Linda Moran	....	production manager

Sound Department
Russell Farmarco	....	adr supervisor
Orada Jusatayanond	....	sound effects editor
Ai-Ling Lee	....	sound editor
Rik Meier	....	sound: documentary, Amsterdam
Martin Müller	....	production sound
Walter Spencer	....	co-supervising sound editor
Walter Spencer	....	dialogue editor
Elmo Weber	....	sound re-recording mixer
Elmo Weber	....	supervising sound editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Theo Bierkens	....	camera operator: Amsterdam concerts
Brigit Hillenius	....	camera operator: Amsterdam concerts
Robby Müller	....	director of photography: Amsterdam
M. Claire Pijman	....	camera operator: Amsterdam concerts and rehearsals
Lisa Rinzler	....	additional camera operator
Lisa Rinzler	....	cinematographer: New York
Richard Rutkowski	....	first assistant camera: New York
Sven Sauër	....	assistant camera: Amsterdam
David Waterston	....	camera operator: Carnegie Hall concert
David Waterston	....	camera operator: New York
Donata Wenders	....	still photographer
Jörg Widmer	....	Steadicam operator
Jörg Widmer	....	director of photography: Amsterdam, Cuba

Editorial Department
Monica Anderson	....	associate editor
Rolando Diaz	....	telecine assistant
Rachel Florian	....	post-production coordinator
Jamie Keeney	....	post-production assistant
Linda Olague	....	colorist
Gary Trentham	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Jerry Boys	....	music recordist
Ry Cooder	....	music mixer
Ry Cooder	....	music recordist

Other crew
Michael Bellah	....	voice-over
Rose-Marie Couture	....	production assistant
Rose-Marie Couture	....	production coordinator
Tanya Greenblatt	....	event producer
Sven Sauër	....	production assistant: Amsterdam
David Stallbaumer	....	event producer
Alkesh Vaja	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Road Movies Filmproduktion
• Kintop Pictures (in association with)
• Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos (ICAIC) (in association with)
• Arte (in association with)
• Channel Four Films (uncredited)

Distributors

• Senator Film (1999) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Arthaus (1999) (Norway) (theatrical)
• Artisan Entertainment (1999) (USA) (theatrical)
• Atalanta Filmes (1999) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Budapest Film (2000) (Hungary) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (1999) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• EDKO Film (2000) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Falcon (2000) (Czech Republic) (theatrical)
• Mars Distribution (1999) (France) (theatrical)
• Primer Plano Film Group (2000) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (1999) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (1999) (Luxembourg) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (1999) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Dok-Maidan (2005) (Ukraine) (DVD)
• Dolmen Home Video (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• EuroVideo (2000) (Germany) (DVD)
• Europa Filmes (Brazil) (DVD)
• Europa Filmes (Brazil) (VHS)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (1999) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2000) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Senator Home Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Buena Vista Social Club (France)
Havana Rhapsody (USA) (working title)
Ry Cooder & the Buena Vista Social Club (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

Germany | USA | UK | France | Cuba

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | Brazil:Livre | South Korea:All | Philippines:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | France:U | Hong Kong:I | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:G | Norway:A | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Road Movies Filmproduktion

Trivia:

The Buena Vista Social Club album was put together by guitarist Ry Cooder in 1997 as a means of recapturing the "lost" music of pre-revolutionary Havana. The story was later made into this movie.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: (#8.43)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Buena Vista Social Club

Wenders succeeds

This is a top class film in so many ways.

To start with, there is the amazing backdrop of dilapidated old Havana, which Wenders admittedly got for free. Nevertheless, he pulls out shots which are so luminous and well constructed that they make you gasp, and all done on a digital betacam! This makes BVSC one of the few documentaries I have ever seen which must be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated. Although I've never been to Havana, it also appeared to me that Wenders may have judged well in his balance by showing Havana as a poor broken down city and not just a place full of '50s cars, grand old buildings and omnipresent "faded glory".

The stars of the film are the old folks, of course. In some ways, the point of the film is not music - this could have been a film about people from any field. Instead, this is simply a record of what people have to say looking back on experiences from their lives which we can never repeat.

Perhaps there was a slight temptation at editing stage to steer the film towards certain themes. There was without a doubt rather a lot of places where the intended conclusion of the audience seemed to be "wow - old men can be cheeky... and they still have libidos!", but maybe only they can say whether the men themselves consider the film to be a fair reflection of the whole of their personalities, and I doubt we will ever find out.

Two points about the musical side. First, I continue to worry about Ry Cooder and his son Joaquim. Do they really need to be there? Ferrer and the old timers all kept tight lipped about Ry's slide guitar, NOT, I thought a prerequisite instrument of the average Cuban "son" band, and dare I say it, distractingly awful in at least one place in the film. Can't comment so much about Joaquim's style when playing the drums, but there must surely be some 50-90 year old cuban drummer cursing his luck that he isn't in on the party thanks to Cooder Jr.?

Second, what do Ferrer et al think about the music they are making now? How does it compare to how they considered they performed in decades gone by? Might they freely admit (as I suspect, honest and carefree as they clearly are) that they are reproducing now something which they did a lot better when they were younger? The question was never asked.

It's a tough point to make, but the average "son" singer does not I imagine consider at the outset of his career that he will only be hitting his peak in his eighth or ninth decade! If they do admit to having had a golden period in the past, why did Wenders not let us see footage of some of that. I doubt if any but a few of his audience have any knowledge of the Cuban music of the 40s and 50s so as to judge with any accuracy what merit there is in the music they are creating today. And without that, the risk is that the players are being cheered not for their musical skills but merely as museum pieces and for the fact that they are capable of doing it at their age at all. I had the slightly uneasy feeling by the end of the film that Wenders might have excluded old footage on the basis that it would show up the modern recordings as something less than the genre at its best.

You should go and see it and then tell me why I am wrong on those points, which hardly dent my rating for this as a definite 9+!