Biutiful

Overview:  After he avoided the cops at the end of "No Country For Old Men" Javier Bardem is now in his native country of Spain.  Uxbal's life more or less sucks, and i'm closer to becoming a crab fisherman than I am to envying his life.  He has a lot of crap (not) going for him right now, including: a crack addict wife who is abusive and sleeps around with his siblings, his friends are getting canned, he has to support his two children, and his health isn't in the best of shape.  As things come to a close he has to juggle everything from the good, the bad, to the worst... at least this time he isn't killing random hicks with an air-gun.

The Good:  Inarritu has a pretty good reputation of making sad films with important messages, and this has to be the king of them.  "Biutiful" is a 2+-hour movie that succeeds in being depressing all the way through, but at the same time it's not the kind of depressing movie that makes you want to run over neighborhood children on bicycles because you don't see the point in life anymore, it's the kind of depression that makes you value your own life and helps you gain perspective on what's really important... That and you're not running over kids. Javier Bardem, much like Inarritu, has a great track record so far since all the movies he's been in have been phenomenal, and that's largely due to his powerful acting.  Javier has to be one of the greatest actors out there, because half the time he doesn't have to speak any dialog, instead his powerful facial expressions do all the talking for him, and if you don't believe me go see this or "No Country for Old Men".

The Bad: Just because I said that Inarritu has an excellent track record so far doesn't mean that his movies are completely flawless.  C and I thought the movie was extremely captivating, until we looked at how much time has passed by... 2 HOURS! are you CROHN'SING ME?!  In two hours I could have watched a normal (happy) movie and had enough time to read a book, make dinner, and then have a bubble bath with strawberries and chocolate fondue right next to me.  It was good, but unless it's another "Lord of the Rings" movie, then please keep it NOT that long.

The Ugly:  Much like "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" series, this movie definitely is not for everyone.  It's a depressing  film that rivals "Grave of the Fireflies" and "Schindler's List" when it comes to being one of the saddest movies of all time, but thankfully that's not all going for it.  Beneath all the sorrow is a lot of great cinema magic, great acting, inspiring messages, and... Spanish people?

4 out of 5