lol sorry
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony assured today that it films "the singer", cradle in the life of the salsero Héctor Lavoe and criticized to be
centered in excess in the relation of the concluded artist with drugs, it is a balanced film. The actress and singer, whom she carries out films with his
husband Marc Anthony, affirmed in addition in her encounter with Hispanic means, that the paper of Puchi, the wife of Lavoe, is most difficult that it has
touched to him in his race and that the that type "does not come every day". Lopez, one of the producers of the film, that directed Cuban Leon
Ichazo, indicated that she understands the critics that in Puerto Rico - where first the singer appeared did to him because he is "strong to see it".
"But, if it were part of his life (the addiction of Lavoe) it is not possible to be hidden" and it rejected that more in that aspect of the life of
the Puerto Rican singing deceased have been concentrated, known as "the singer the singers" and member of Stars of the Fania. "I understand, but
in the end, the film is full of humor, humanity, love and also of the things that were negative of their life because I believe that from there its music
comes", it emphasized the actress and producer. It added that "it is sad, is a tragedy, really, but in the end I believe that the film very is
balanced when saying that this one is an artist who left a music incredible. There are many scenes of him singing, prevailing ". After the opening of
"the singer" in Puerto Rico, several stars of the sauce that shared scene with Lavoe in Stars of Fania criticized that more in the problem of
addiction of Lavoe is concentrated that in emphasizing qualities of the artist, while her Leslie daughter was sorry that she was not emphasized that was a good
father. "the singer" counts the life of Lavoe - interpreted by Marc Anthony- a legend of Latin music, she covers a period from 1960 to 1980 and also
shows since the artist arrived at New York, the development of his race and its success, but to his addiction the drug as well as the one by which they
surrounded to him. The life of Lavoe, that continues being adored by its followers, is counted by Puchi, a woman of strong character - Lopez manages to catch
and to show that strong personality in films and it is how they knew and the tragedy that lived with the death of their only son. Lavoe formed one of the most
important duetos of the sauce next to Willie Columbus, with whom recorded ten discs. Lopez, who shone a black dress in form abullonada with the superior part
in decollete "to halter" and its loose hair, and that has improved remarkably in its Spanish, maintained that it was not easy to interpret the
personage, for which prepared itself seeing videos of interviews on the life of Puchi and Lavoe, interviews with those who knew him and photos. "he cost
to Me because never I have lived what she lived: to lose a son, to have a husband who fought with drugs ", affirmed and identified the scene between Puchi
and Lavoe when returning to house after sepelio of the son, as one of the forts of films. In his conversation with press Latin, Lopez, that in addition is in
the middle of the promotion of its first disc in Spanish "As it loves a woman", confessed that it felt pride when saw the film. "I felt proud by
the work, also by Marc and of I read (director). We had sense that we wanted to make something pretty but also real, that when people were wanted to know more
of this music ", commented. Marc Anthony, that has claimed throughout its race to be admiring of Lavoe, to which now it was called on to him to interpret,
said to be in favor proud of the film. It explained that to make the paper it was concentrated in the human part of Lavoe and that listened to eleven hours of
interviews that had been done to him to Puchi, in which it counts anecdotes of his husband and who these revealed that Lavoe, it hated his voice and it did not
understand by what they wanted so much to him. "In his personal life he did not understand why they wanted so much to him, but he felt more comfortable in
the scene" said Marc Anthony, that assured that most difficult its paper as Lavoe were to imitate the style of the Puerto Rican salsero. It said in
addition that people can say many things, but he, tried to humanize the most possible image of Lavoe in films, beyond his addiction, and assured that the voice
of the singer left its pain, his inconformidad with he himself. On the other hand Ichazo said that he was very exciting him to recreate that time of music of
the sauce and on the critics, affirmed that Lavoe was a person destroyed by drugs. It emphasized that the largometraje is a tribute to a great singer, who had
great talent to improvise, to frasear and great charisma with its public. "One cannot be focused in which the family of Lavoe says that there is much
drug. It is a tribute to a music that more never is going away to lose ", affirmed
I Gossip Because
I Care... BB Night Patrol Beyond Bitchy
newsday.com
'El Cantante' recaptures Lavoe's music, not Lavoe
July 29, 2007
There's a scene early in "El Cantante," the new movie about the life of Héctor Lavoe opening Friday, which is emblematic of the film's
joys and frustrations. Marc Anthony, playing Lavoe, is sitting in his living room watching the legendary "Iris Chacón Show" and Jennifer Lopez,
playing his wife Puchi (Nilda Román), wriggles her butt in his face so that he can't see Chacón's ample posterior. While Marc and J.Lo are fun and
pretty to look at, they often obscure what we came to see: the story of Héctor Lavoe.
It's a quintessential tragedy of a self-destructive artist blessed with incredible talent who finds it impossible to deal with his personal life and
his audience. The haunting beauty of the movie is the way it dramatizes the central figure of salsa music, the singer, who is burdened with carrying the
hopes and dreams of his audience and transforming them into a nimble display of vocal magic and improvisation. "I am the singer," go the lyrics
to the title track, written by Rubén Blades, "Very popular everywhere/But when the show is over/I'm just a regular guy."
The Puerto Rican-born Lavoe, who came to New York as an adolescent, was perhaps salsa's greatest singer, but he made a mess of his life,
descending into drug addiction, attempting suicide, and dying at only 46 in 1993 from HIV-related causes. Watching "El Cantante" brings up
conflicting emotions from sympathy to loathing, and, despite its surface portrayals of Willie Colón, Johnny Pacheco and the rest of the Fania Records crew,
it's a must-see for anyone interested in the classic salsa period of the '60s and '70s.
The problem with "El Cantante" is that Anthony and Lopez are too recognizable as celebrities, and it takes half the movie for you to believe
their characters. As the harshly lit narrator and the doting but difficult wife, Lopez is in almost every scene, drawing attention away from Anthony, who
spends his time moping and not demonstrating much of a feel for Lavoe's enigmatic persona.
While Marc and J.Lo are dressed in the best funky-bohemian wardrobe ever seen, there's no hint of what motivated Lavoe to become so self-destructive,
nor of the intangible spark he possessed that incited so much devotion from his fans. There is little character development or narrative tension - at times
the movie is a relentless chain of cliched montages and overly impressionistic and dreary sequences of Lavoe shooting up heroin.
The movie's momentum picks up during the scenes when Anthony performs Lavoe's music - even though he lacks Lavoe's emotional quality,
Anthony's own considerable talent fills the screen, and there's a nice touch when the lyrics are translated in flashy titles.
"El Cantante" fails to explain why Lavoe felt tortured enough to hurt himself and those around him, or how, with his musician friends, he helped
create some of the best salsa ever recorded. What we're left with is some exhilarating explosions of classic salsa, and a precious momentary illusion
that he is still with us.
is anyone planning on going to the jay leno appearance to see Jennifer arrive? i know it tapes @ like 4 and the location, but does anyone know where the star
entrance is? thnx
hi, can anyone tell me why in none of hector lavoe's bio info that i've read throughout the internet does it mention that he has a daughter ?? all
i've heard about is the 2 sons one with his x-girlfriend and one with his wife..im confused now, lol..why no mention of her and who's her mom ? and is
it true that puchi killed her self ? I cant seem to find any articles about this information..if anybody knows anything you can email me at nycme17@aol.com ....thanks for the help..
Known as "La Voz" (the voice), Hector Lavoe was for a time in the 1960s and '70s the biggest star in the Latin music firmament. A passionate
singer whose collaborations with bandleader Willie Colon were both musically innovative and highly danceable, Lavoe was also a tortured drug addict who
eventually died of complications from AIDS.
Unfortunately, the film made about this charismatic performer's life is further proof, as if any were needed, that watching self-destructive
personalities self-destruct is tedious and anti-cinematic. Although it's obvious that real-life husband-and-wife team Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez
(playing Lavoe and his wife Puchi) are passionate about the project, and really throw themselves into their performances, El Cantante plays like two
wildly different films: one a melodrama filled with endless screaming matches between husband and wife, the other a concert film in which Anthony channels
Lavoe to brilliant, hip-swaying effect.
The problem here is not just that Leon Ichaso's direction is flashy but empty, or that the screenplay is clichéd and paint-by-numbers (country boy comes
to the big city, gets in with the wrong crowd and starts a long, downward spiral). El Cantante purports to be, on a certain level, a film about
Puerto Rican nationalism and how the music of Lavoe, Colon and others raised the profile of a people and became an important element in their diaspora. But
the way this is told is so wafer-thin, so lacking in specifics, it will ultimately resonate only for salsa fanatics or members of the Latino community. Anglo
viewers new to the material will remain unenlightened.
Yet there is one big plus side to El Cantante, and that is the singing of Marc Anthony. Slim and not particularly good-looking, Anthony boasts a
fabulously rich voice and a stage presence that gives new meaning to the term "sex appeal." When he's doing what he does best, backed by a hot
band that includes original members of the Fania All-Stars and Lavoe's own orchestra, the film soars into the heavens. Then it reverts back to another
scene of domestic strife, and falls thuddingly back to earth.
El Cantante
1 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Josh Tyler : 2007-07-27 (Cinemablend.com)
If JLo's career went catatonic after Gigli, then after El Cantante I think it's probably safe to go ahead and
pull the plug on it. There's no coming out of this coma. El Cantante is the worst movie I've seen since the last Jennifer Lopez teams up
with her man movie, and if someone manages to make a worse film this year that'll be quite an accomplishment.
The movie pretends to be the story of famed Salsa singer Hector Lavoe, as told from the perspective of his longtime wife Puchi. Even though putting spouses
together in movies almost always results in cinematic disaster, El Cantante does it anyway by casting real life husband and wife Marc Anthony and
Jennifer Lopez as Hector and Puchi. I say the movie pretends to be told from the perspective of Puchi, because it only seems to stick to this premise when
convenient. The movie pauses frequently to let Lopez as Puchi, in some sort of bizarre, mock interview introduce each scene. This gives Lopez a chance to
showcase her complete lack of acting talent. The movie's awful mock interviews with her play out like someone's final exam in acting class, and JLo
looks like she's practicing to play the character in front of a mirror. Lopez actually seems to become a worse actress with each picture, and her work in
El Cantante represents a new low. But the really annoying thing about all the screen time she's given to smoke and stare at the camera is that
it's all for nothing since once the scene she's introducing starts rolling the camera follows Hector everywhere, with or without Puchi. There's
no real attempt to tell the story from her perspective, because that sort of complexity is light-years beyond this script's grasp.
If there were a bright spot in the film, it might have been Marc Anthony as Hector Lavoe. He certainly looks convincing, drugging and whoring, and shrugging
his way through the picture. Unfortunately El Cantante never lets us get to know his character. The movie skips through his life with no real rhyme
or reason. It's like watching the Hector Lavoe story on fast forward, were the remote control being held by a blindfolded mental patient who randomly
switches to slow motion based upon a random bubbling sensation in his bowels. There's no point to any of it, and the movie skips through Hector's
life without letting us know who he is or why he's important.
The film can't even properly present his music, the man never sings an entire song and if there was any sort of process to coming up with his sound
it's ignored. Lavoe simply shows up in New York and goes to work singing. Well we presume he's singing. We don't see much of it really, though
people keep talking about how great he is and soon for no particular reason and with almost no effort on his part, he's instantly elevated to the status
of Latin god.
The same is true of his relationship with Puchi, who just sort of shows up, and then they're together. We don't know why they're together,
there's no attempt to figure out why Puchi sticks with him, or even to figure out what they have in common besides a mutual affection for heavy drugs.
Though maybe it's for the best. If JLo can't handle the meager morsels El Cantante's lousy script gives her, I shudder to think what she
might have done to good material. The musician biopic craze dies right here; bury it to the left of Jennifer Lopez's once significant career.
There is a comment on this harsh unfair review..
Cantante (2007): The musician biopic craze dies right here; bury it to the left of Jennifer Lopez's once significant career. - Joshua
Tyler
Was this a "movie review" or an open letter death threat to Jennifer Lopez!?
I'm extremely disappointed RT lets a misogynistic, racist Ku Klux Klan member be a part of their "reviewing" team. I think you guys are perfectly
capable of finding someone else at CinemaBlend whose over the age of 12.
I loved it. It has great acting, direction, story, and music. The sexual chemistry of the stars was palpable. Lopez and
Anthony are sensational.
El Cantante
By
Victoria Alexander
FilmsInReview.com
I loved it. It has great acting, direction, story, and music. The sexual chemistry of the stars was palpable. Lopez and Anthony are sensational.
My weekly column, "The Devil's Hammer," appears every Monday on www.FromTheBalcony.com. The Devil's Hammer on FTB
Marc Anthony is very short, maybe 125 lbs tops, and has been nicknamed "Skeletor" on gossip websites. Yet on the screen he is mesmerizing. You
can't stop looking at him. He's got it and the camera shows it.
I know exactly what it is and, if I wanted to tell you what it was, I could. As weird as it sounds, Marc Anthony has a sexual electricity that comes
across. He does a terrific job as the likeable, drugged-out Hector Lavoe. And he is a terrific singer and performer, so his stage performances as Lavoe are
exciting to watch.
The film opens with a personal-war-ravaged Puchi (Jennifer Lopez) being interviewed about her famous dead husband, The King of Salsa, Hector Lavoe (Marc
Anthony). Puchi is a tough lady and lays out the warts-and-all-story of her 20 years with Lavoe. And what a story it is.
Flashing back to the beginning in 1963 in Puerto Rico and against his father's advice, Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony) leaves Puerto Rico for New York
City. Singing in Latin dive bars in the Bronx, Lavoe is discovered by a budding music company and the Salsa phenomenon is born. Lavoe meets Puchi and they
begin a torturous, complicated relationship. Lavoe reaches international superstardom but along the way becomes a willing victim to the vices of, among
many things, other women and drugs.
Someone once said about heroin: "If God created something better, He kept it for Himself."
Real life husband-and-wife acting teams rarely work on screen and most people were astonished when Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony announced they would
co-star together. With Leon Ichaso directing (as well as having written the screenplay with David Darmstaeder) and Lopez foregoing the glamorous, saintly
wifely role for one of honesty, depth and grit, she delivers a terrific performance layered with many dimensions.
Puchi is not June Carter. She fights hard and is nobody's fool. She is a richly drawn character. Lopez is sensational. She has returned to acting.
Puchi accepts Hector's drug use. She knows the lifestyle well. She knows exactly where he is shooting up and pulls him out of drug dens, cleans him up,
gives him some cocaine, and gets him on stage.
Other women come along, but after 2 years and a son, Puchi, in her wedding gown and with the priest in tow, pulls Hector out of a drug and sex party to get
married. It's a wild scene that shows off Puchi's toughness, a toughness that allows their relationship to survive.
As Hector's stardom grows, his frequent absences affect his marriage and relationship with their son Tito. They fight bitterly but Hector is also a
very jealous man. Drugs eventually start to take control of Hector and he begins missing gigs. The downward spiral begins.
Puchi gets fed-up but they are addicted to each other and the music. The music is wonderful and is richly presented.
Then tragedy strikes, Hector gets sent to a psychiatric hospital, a suicide attempt, and finally, Hector is diagnosed with AIDS.
As producer, Jennifer Lopez chose the perfect director to bring Hector Lavoe's life and music to the screen. Ichaso presents the music as a celebration
of sexuality and love of life. All the scenes are vivid and filled with an emotional charge. He has fashioned performances from Lopez and Anthony that are
psychologically vibrant. This is more than a musical about the birth of Salsa, it is a stark look at a marriage destroyed by fame and drugs.
Victoria Alexander lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and answers every email. You can contact Victoria directly at masauu@aol.com or by visiting www.FilmsInReview.com
Last Edited By: JLolover15 07/28/07 12:18 PM.
Edited 2 times.
sophie bonilla wrote:
hi, can anyone tell me why in none of hector lavoe's bio info that i've read throughout the internet does it mention that he has a daughter ?? all
i've heard about is the 2 sons one with his x-girlfriend and one with his wife..im confused now, lol..why no mention of her and who's her mom ? and
is it true that puchi killed her self ? I cant seem to find any articles about this information..if anybody knows anything you can email me at nycme17@aol.com ....thanks for the help..
Hi, the bios of Hector doesnt mention Leslie, because Leslie is NOT Hector Biological daughter. Leslie is Puchi's daugther from a previous
relationship, Hector adopted her. As for Puchi killing herself I duno some ppl say she had an accident (fell from her appartment window) other ppl say
she died from aids.
JLolover15 wrote:
There is a comment on this harsh unfair review..
Was this a "movie review" or an open letter death threat to Jennifer Lopez!?
I'm extremely disappointed RT lets a misogynistic, racist Ku Klux Klan member be a part of their "reviewing" team. I think you guys are
perfectly capable of finding someone else at CinemaBlend whose over the age of 12.
Exactly this guy is an idiot ! he wrote and article 2 month ago a think saying how El cantante will suck, he probably wrote this before he saw the movie
LOl.
Knock yourselves out, everyone. It's one thing to ignore a review like that from an idiot at a random message board, but I can't ignore one from an
idiot who partly works for Rotten Tomatoes. I refuse to let him think he can constantly and so publicly disparage and humiliate Jennifer review after review,
without any repercussions whatsoever. Defend your girl and silence his sorry ass.
FRESH
