An inside look at homosexuality in Cuba, but so deep in the past (1979) as to imply that the disagreeable conditions depicted are no longer in force. However that may be, the results are unexpectedly enjoyable. The unfolding relationship between a heterosexual male (Vladimir Cruz, projecting callow wariness) and a homosexual one (Jorge Perugorria, projecting a faintly Helmut Bergerish authenticity) is carefully set up and plausibly moved along. And smoothly stage-managed by co-directors Tomas Gutierrez Alea (an old hand known best for Memories of Underdevelopment) and, filling in while Alea was hospitalized for cancer treatment, Juan Carlos Tabio (unknown). It doesn't hold steady the whole way. The method of development is a torrent of talk, talk, talk; and as the topic of conversation moves on to bigger things -- i.e., the Revolution -- the movie becomes simultaneously more pretentious and more parochial. The eventual working-out of the relationship is neither very surprising nor interesting (including the helping hand from the heart-of-gold suicidal prostitute upstairs, played by Alea's wife, Mirta Ibarra). But the image, though consistently washed-out and at times rather erodingly solarized, continues to turn up valuable documentary information on our reclusive offshore neighbor. Information, that is to say, not apt to boost the national tourism industry. (1994) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.