Just over a year ago,
Biutiful screened at Cannes in a 8.30am slot that did nothing for the film's gentle pace and ponderous pace, but the one thing everyone seemed to agree on was that the lasting legacy of this sometimes grim portrait of the murky underbelly of Barcelona was the powerhouse performance of
Javier Bardem in the lead. Buoyed by Bardem's Oscar nomination, Biutiful is available to buy on
Blu-ray and
DVD now.
The main body of this review is taken from Shaun Munro's theatrical review. Biutiful is very much the kind of unrestrained, thematically ambitious film made only after a filmmaker has proven themselves on terra firma following a run of work that has hit both critically and commercially. While his musings on humanity are as bleak as ever, and the film is unmistakably his most relentlessly gloomy, Biutiful is a confronting, powerful film that finds Iñárritu comfortably at his most audacious, topped by a mesmerising, Oscar-nominated performance from the ever-reliable
Javier Bardem.
Uxbal (Bardem) is a drifter, weaving through Barcelona's grimy underworld like a phantom, acting as a negotiator between the gossamer-thin illusions of authority - corrupt cops and snide factory owners - and those who rail against them - drug dealers and immigrant workers - while also having the ability to speak to the dead briefly before they pass to the other side, exploiting his ability and grief-stricken loved ones for cash. After a surprise cancer diagnosis numbers his days considerably, Uxbal comes to consider what his life - up to this point amounting to little more than bottom-feeding and crass manipulation - will mean for the legacy he leaves his children, and briskly goes about trying to make a better life for them before he departs. While Biutiful is far from Iñárritu's best work - though that isn't a particularly weighty criticism given the quality of his output - it leaves the impression of being truest to his vision, unfettered by the need to engage in strictly plausible physical scenarios for the sake of the "real drama" that typically gets Academy recognition. Instead, Iñárritu discovers grand emotional truths amid his peculiar brand of magical realism, and though the supernatural elements are smartly downplayed and massaged disarmingly into the gritty travelogue of Barcelona's putrid gutters, it is liable to be Biutiful's most divisive element. Though the film would play just as well without the incongruent otherworldly scenes, it is not these on which the film's success rests; that is Javier Bardem, who not only runs with the ball, but jettisons it off to another dimension entirely.
Bardem is astonishingly good in a subdued, smouldering performance, which bests the sort of calculated contemplation that George Clooney attempted with mixed results in last year's The American. How Bardem succeeds where Clooney did not is in populating his anguished glances with a heart and a soul, abetted unquestionably by the film's soulful and emotionally authentic, if deeply unpleasant, series of events. As a work much like Clooney's in which dialogue is light and faces tell the tale, Bitufiul's meditative elements could so easily have devolved into a self-consciously moody mug-fest, yet there is plenty of humanity, and plenty for Uxbal to talk - and occasionally shout - about, allowing Bardem to essentially have his cake and eat it; he works the scrunched face and tortured eyes better than anyone, while also emoting in more surface-level ways, doing both wonderfully. The success of the film lives and dies with Bardem, for while it is moving and dramatically potent, the grim reality of Iñárritu's well-thumbed worldview may have proven too unwieldy in the hands of a lesser actor. In a film which is essentially a series of increasingly devastating scenes of abuse, exploitation, illness, regret, sadness and longing, Bardem surrenders the humanity of his deeply flawed character with heartbreaking precision. That he is able to make of Uxbal an even slightly sympathetic figure is his real triumph, and it anchors the perceived difficulty of the material.
While certainly padded and ponderous at 147 minutes, Biutiful is brave, unabashedly heart-rending filmmaking, topped by Javier Bardem's strongest, most nuanced performance to date, and he is unequivocally the reason that you should see it.
Quality In many ways Biutiful was made for high definition: it is a very visually striking film - visceral even - and the added levels of texture and detail afforded by the HD treatment add even more depth to the atmospheric manifesto of the film. The fairly muted overall palette, that contributes so well to the tonal intentions of the film is beautiful reproduced here, and they are matched by deep, discernible black levels. Overall, it's about as perfectly suited to Inarritu's intentions as possible at this level of technology - and even when the film flounders, or is intentionally difficult to watch, the substance of the visuals remains impeccable.
The audio track is just as impressive, with great dynamic range and exceptional prioritisation throughout. Even when Bardem is mumbling dialogue is clear and crisp, and the few atmospheric scenes that rely on audio - most notably the shocking supernatural scenes in the middle - are brilliantly reproduced.
ExtrasNot exactly bursting with supplements, but the scant features are made up for by the quality of Inarritu's production diary, which gives a fairly atypical insight into the director's process. His insights into working with Bardem are particularly interesting, but that doesn't quite make up for the lack of an overall commentary. Behind Biutiful: Director's Flip Notes (HD, 22mins) Biutiful Crew (HD, 4mins) Cast Interviews (8mins)
Biutiful is available to buy on
Blu-ray and
DVD from today.