The Lost City – DVD Review

Archive, Film, Reviews


Image Courtesy of Amazon.com

Own it on DVD August 8, 2006

Director

Andy Garcia

Cast

Andy Garcia……….Fico Fellove
Nestor Carbonell……….Luis Fellove
Enrique Murciano……….Ricardo Fellove
Dominik García-Lorido……….Mercedes Fellove
Dustin Hoffman……….Meyer Lansky
Bill Murray……….The Writer

The Movie

It’s hard to classify The Lost City as merely the directorial debut of a top Hollywood actor. One can’t merely classify it as a film about the Cuban revolution. It’s hard to watch The Lost City and not see the heart and soul of Andy Garcia on the screen as he waxes poetic about the beauty that was Cuba in the 1950s.

Garcia stars as Fico, one third of the Fellove brothers. In Cuba, before the fall of Batista and the rise of Castro, he’s the owner of one of the premiere dance clubs in Havana. As Batista’s grip on the country weakens, his brothers decide to join in on the revolution. Luis (Nestor Carbonell) embraces the revolution with Che Guevera and Ricardo (Enrique Mursciano) goes into the mountains to fight with Fidel. As the years go on and Batista’s grip on Cuba begins to fade, the brothers interact with each other as their lives intertwine with the fate of the country.

It’s a big epic story and obviously one close to his heart, which is easy to see from the beginning. The sort of craftsmanship and meticulous nature of something beloved to Garcia the director; everything about the time period Garcia does excessively well. While the film may have been shot in the Dominican Republic, it serves as a great double for the older architecture and agriculture, there’s never a doubt when watching the film that this isn’t Cuba.

Garcia also doesn’t gloss over the grim and dirty details of Cuba before the Communist revolution. The discrepancy of wealth and the influences of the mafia aren’t overlooked, as Garcia covers everything including the bad parts. This is about as fair and balanced as Garcia can be in terms of how he handles the subject matter; it’s obvious Castro and his thugs aren’t high on his list but he doesn’t demonize them at the expense of the other problems 1950s Cuba had. Batista and his regime, as well as influences from outside the island, are painted as accurate as they were. Garcia has painstakingly gone back and replicated the era as accurately as possible, not trying to cover up the things that were bad during this age.

And everything else Garcia does well, too. This is a top notch cast and a well-designed set, including some great cinematography and story-telling. There isn’t a too much Garcia does wrong in the film as both a director and as a producer, as well as an actor. This is well-crafted and well done, but the problem is that there’s too much included that weighs the film down. At a running time of over 2 ½ hours, the film is epic in scope but needs a good editor to cut down 30 minutes of running time. The film’s pacing and timing are a bit scattershot, throwing off the wonderful work he’s done with the film.

It’s a beautiful love letter to a country he loves, and it’s easy to see how much it all means to him with the film, but with a little less film this could’ve gone from being merely good to being excellent.

The Audio

Presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 format, The Lost City sounds excellent. This is a dialogue heavy film with some major dance and music numbers; the audio track takes full advantage of the format as the film comes alive.

The Video

Presented in a widescreen format with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, the film looks great, too. The vibrance and colorful nature of the time period come through wonderfully.

The Extras

DVD Introduction with Andy Garcia is a short introduction by Garcia to the DVD.

The Making of The Lost City follows the arduous journey of getting this film made and the reasons behind it. As an exile from Cuba, Garcia has always felt nostalgic for the music of his youth. Having left at five, he always wanted to make a film about the Cuba he remembered. After his turn in The Godfather Part III, Garcia pitched the idea for the film and the film spent 16 years in development before it was finally produced. Initially wanting to portray the younger brother, the time it took to get it done made the option of being the oldest brother more realistic by the time it was completed. There are plenty of interesting stories and anecdotes about the film in this feature, as Garcia got Bill Murray into the cast as they had played golf together a number of times. Murray apparently loved the script and didn’t mind the minimal pay he was to receive for the project. Listening to Garcia one can see the love and work he put into the film, as he doesn’t describe it in glowing terms for the sake of; this is the one project he’s poured his heart and soul into in terms of importance and it shows.

Deleted Scenes are included and it’s hard to imagine that there’d be things that weren’t put in the film but alas there are. Contributing little to the film, they were obviously cut for time and plot purposes.

Audio Commentary with Garcia, Carbonell and Production Designer Waldermar Kalinowski

InsidePulse’s Ratings for The Lost City
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

8
THE VIDEO

9
THE AUDIO

9
THE EXTRAS

9
REPLAY VALUE

8
OVERALL
8.5
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
Andy Garcia’s love letter to Cuba may not play in Havana for the next decade, but the spirit and soul he puts into the film is evident no matter what you’re feelings are about Communist Cuba. With lots of singing, dancing and some quality performances, The Lost City is well worth finding.