Great music, interesting musicians and a fascinating project by Ry Cooder.
Hand it to Cooder for getting these guys together. But Wenders should have followed Cooder's search in more detail. And for that matter, he might've shown how these great musicians fell into obscurity. Was it some sort of Maoist "Cultural Revolution" that purged Cuban society of supposed classist vestiges? Was it simply that their musical styles were lost in the more recent currents of Cuban music? Most of the storytelling in the film was about the musicians' early years and how they got into music. That was pretty interesting, though not altogether unique. It seems like lots of great musicians have humble beginnings.
Did Castro's regime control what Wenders was able to film? If so, the project might have worked better as a book with accompanying music CD.
The music is the film's high point. The jam sessions and solo reveries were great, even though virtually all the other music and more is on the CD soundtrack BVSC.
Hand it to Cooder for getting these guys together. But Wenders should have followed Cooder's search in more detail. And for that matter, he might've shown how these great musicians fell into obscurity. Was it some sort of Maoist "Cultural Revolution" that purged Cuban society of supposed classist vestiges? Was it simply that their musical styles were lost in the more recent currents of Cuban music? Most of the storytelling in the film was about the musicians' early years and how they got into music. That was pretty interesting, though not altogether unique. It seems like lots of great musicians have humble beginnings.
Did Castro's regime control what Wenders was able to film? If so, the project might have worked better as a book with accompanying music CD.
The music is the film's high point. The jam sessions and solo reveries were great, even though virtually all the other music and more is on the CD soundtrack BVSC.