Synopsis
Spanning several decades, this powerful biopic offers a glimpse into the life of famed Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, an artist who was vilified for his homosexuality in Fidel Castro's Cuba.
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Cast
- Javier BardemReinaldo Arenas
- Olivier MartinezLazaro Gomez Carilles
- Johnny DeppBon Bon / Lieutenant Victor
- Andrea Di StefanoPepe Malas
- Santiago MagillTomas Diego
- John OrtizJuan Abreu
- Héctor BabencoVirgilio Pinera
- Francisco GattornoJorge Camacho
- Marisol Padilla SánchezMargarita Camacho
- Michael WincottHerberto Zorilla Ochoa
Recommendations
- 100
Newsweek
This powerful, lyrical meditation on Arenas's life achieves a kind of hallucinatory urgency as it leaps and twists through his life. - 100
Film.com
With Before Night Falls, Schnabel has moved to an entirely new plane of cinematic achievement. - 100
Austin Chronicle
It's huge and bewildering and it hurts to watch, but it hurts so good it's gorgeous. - 88
Baltimore Sun
A thoughtful, bittersweet film biography of the Cuban writer that captures both his irrepressible spirit and his sometimes overwhelming melancholy. - 88
Chicago Sun-Times
There is a little something of the spoiled masochist about Arenas. One would not say he seeks misery, but he wears it like a badge of honor, and we can see his mistakes approaching before he does. This is not a weakness in the film but one of its intriguing strengths - 88
Chicago Tribune
This is an art film in the true sense of the term, engaging the mind, senses and emotions in a way that only movies at their best can do. - 88
Miami Herald
A dreamy, passionate ode to freedom -- of thought, of expression, of every person's innate right to simply be. - 88
Philadelphia Inquirer
This is a sad, passionate, beautifully wrought story, and Bardem's portrait of Arenas is at once daring and deeply moving.
