Little Ashes (2009)

One of my all time favorites.

Must See Movie...

Best movie of this year hands down!

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This film came to my attention because Robert Pattinson is in it, but it is an amazing movie. It is a small film but I don't think that big budget films are always that good anyway. The strange live of Dali is explained and his love is shown. Robert Pattinson has done a amazing job with portraying Dali. Some people may find this film boring but i find it rather interesting. This movie is not a feel good movie, but a beautiful drama. The accents were a little annoying. It's to bad that this film does not get the attention it deserves. A great script, amazing acting, and a rare story is what makes this an amazing movie. I have enjoyed it and I hope more people will.

Trying to cover up the personalities, the minds and the artistic and historical period of Spain in the 1920's and 1930's is a huge and difficult task and no film could ever capture and portray that in a positive way in less than two hours. "Little Ashes" is a small but good film that shows us few moments of that era in something we might call of a summary of events, and that's what makes this movie good but this also is his Achilles tendon, it might kill the experience (and it did to some viewers) of watching it and understand what the movie was since the film is too short and deals with too many subjects. If you know the period you'll get easily, otherwise you're gonna need to make a research on icons like Salvador Dali, Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Buñuel and their meaning to the arts."Little Ashes" follows the friendship between these three artists, from the time they were students until the beginning of their careers and some of its famous moments, pictures, films, poems and all. More than that, the film explores a love relationship between Dali and Lorca, played respectively by Robert Pattinson and Javier Beltrán; and their involvement in art and revolutionary acts during Franco dictatorship. The rest is history, mentions of "Un Chien Andalou" (Buñuel & Dali film partnership) and the famous image of the eye; poems by Lorca; and Dali's strange magnetism as a bizarre figure with his surrealistic art and way of living and style.The film is panned and harshly criticized by many people complaining that everything in this movie is wrong, its inaccuracy in everything, and most of all that Pattinson is a terrible actor and he shouldn't portray Dali and things like that. My observations to this nonsense is that the movie succeeds in its attempt to cover the artistic period and of being a strange and romantic love story that sounds original, almost without clichés. There are some innuendos, many artistic licenses and some awkward moments and unexplained things (such as Buñuel being presented as half homophobic who seems to approve Dali's homosexualism but on the other hand he doesn't approve that Lorca is too, to the point of beating up a guy who wanted to have sex with him and he looked for this guy, he wanted. A very silly moment and totally unbelievable). As for the performances they are very nice, especially Javier Beltrán, who has an unique dramatic talent, the actor you'll want to see more and more in the film thanks to his ability to display a poetic emotion that seems to reflect the character very well, not much of an acting, it's more like a embodiment of Lorca. But this review cannot be completed without the Pattinson controversy. "Little Ashes" gathered a lot of attention after his role as Edward Cullen in "Twilight" since many twilighters wanted to see more of his films, and along with that attention came some of the critical examinations saying that he wasn't a good choice for this film, and others even worst than this trashy comments that said that a movie about Dali with Pattinson starring is unwatchable. Well, they are all wrong! He has a good performance despite being too handsome for the role, although his Dali's mannerisms might look as a caricature of the important artist, but after a moment he gets very similar to the real figure (that "crazy" look in his eyes is very similar). And more difficult is the portrayal of a man who seemed to have a peculiar view on the world, and a strange care for his sexuality, and with all that in mind we can't judge the actor for his role in other films, but only for what he did here and he did a great job. If "Little Ashes" was directed and produced by the cinema of Spain with Spanish actors, and if they have a fantastic budget to spend in producing a film with more than three hours covering until the final days of Dali and Buñuel (sadly, the movie didn't followed him much), it would be a spectacular epic film. But for what it tries to accomplish this film is a good entrance door in the lives of some of the most interesting minds of the 20th Century. 9/10

A few people have said already that this is very much a love-or-hate movie. While I can understand what leads them to that conclusion, I can't personally agree with it because I myself don't feel either way. Oh, I'm not completely blasé about it - to its credit it's definitely one of those movies that'll leave you with some kind of opinion. This is at least one thing that it does right. It's just that your opinion is likely to be very conflicted because the movie is so uneven; it has too much merit to be hated and too many flaws to be loved. The fact that young Mr. Pattinson looks nothing like the real Salvador Dali (bar the moustache) ate away at me, but I tried to keep an open mind throughout. They're doing that with nearly every true story these days so there's not much point in letting it bug you. It can be forgiven as long as the acting is good enough to take away from the liberties. And the good news is, the lack of physical resemblance does become a non-issue - the bad news is that this is largely because the mistakes that they've made take you away from it as much as the engrossment.So, the story. Circa 1922 a young Salvador Dali travels to a creative arts school to pursue his passion for painting. There he meets aspiring poet Federico, with whom he forges a connection, and the early scenes focus on the development of their friendship which soon shifts into a romantic nature. But Salvador, either unwilling to accept what he is or just not carrying a mutual feeling (I found that I couldn't quite tell) eventually abandons Federico after a series of mishaps, arguments and complications, and seeks fame and fortune in Paris under the advice of a tutor. It's eight years before he and Federico meet again and by that time Salvador's married a woman, garnered celebrity and developed the wide-eyed weirdness streak that become one of his trademarks. They manage to re-establish contact but old feelings still remain, at least on Federico's part.Now the biggest problem here is that, for a movie which is supposed to be about Salvador Dali, it's hardly about him at all! He starts off being the star of the story but as things progress is becomes more about the struggles of his friend Federico! If they were trying to convey an in-depth look at the life of one of history's greatest art figures then they devoted far too much time to an entirely separate character! Don't get me wrong, Federico is likable, endearing, and the young actor who plays him is superb, but what's the point of making a movie about a famous artist if the focus is going to shift to one of his cohorts less than halfway through? Attempts to get to know Salvador and why he was the way he was are stunted for this very reason. For instance when Salvador leaves for Paris the movie is then immediately transferred to Federico's eight-year goal to try and put his poetry out there, and we don't see Salvador again until he's become famous and strange. Ideally we should have spent those eight years with Salvador to witness his descent into surrealism and why it happened; because we don't, we come away no wiser about what made him tick.So I hate to say it, but it's definitely one of those biopics which fails to get under the skin of its subject. By no means any fault of Robert Pattinson's, he does a remarkable job, it's just that the way in which the plot unfolds (and his strangely limited screen time) means that he doesn't get quite as much chance to shine as he could have. When he does, it works, and you get a glimpse at just how amazing the movie could have been if they'd focused more on his personality and derailed mind. But because they spend so much time on Federico, it ends up coming off as his story, in which Salvador is more like a supporting character and what he did for modern art is shifted into the background. His prodigious paintings feel strangely tacked-on and end up becoming a distraction from the friendship that the two of them share. Considering that this is meant to be a real-life biopic, that's not exactly the right way to do it.But like I said, the movie does have its merits. The acting is flawless, the dialogue is believable, the direction is near-perfect and of course the production is loaded with breathtaking shots of Europe. But this is supposed to be a movie about Salvador Dali - and because it's not, that hinders all of its good qualities to such a large degree that it's difficult to remember the positives. By running's end you realise that this movie would have been much better if they hadn't bothered to make it about Dali. It would have worked if it had been a fictional story about a young Spanish poet and his haughty, mischievous, unrequited artist muse, which they could have dubbed "Inspired by True Events". As it is, it has all of the right ingredients to present an enjoyable treatment of the same subject using its great cast, wonderful production and interesting storyline, but completely fails to work as a portrait of Dali's life.

I have to admit that it took a while for me to get around to renting this on DVD partially because of the subject matter (out in left field for me) and partially due to the mixed reviews. Went into it expecting at best mixed feelings about it but "Brilliant" was the first word to mind as the end credits rolled. It's a complex and, at times, slightly confusing character study (sort of like Dali himself). The movie focuses mostly on the personalities and how they affect each other rather than on their art. I didn't really know anything about Dali, Lorca, and Bunuel before but had to google and learn more about them after viewing this movie. Definitely peaks your interest into some very complex personalities and their artistic endeavours. Very well acted all around, especially given the challenging nature of these characters and relationships. Robert Pattinson yet again proves his ability to make you forget the actor and see the character. His portrayal of Dali's metamorphosis from shy, awkward art student to flamboyant character is brilliant and courageous. Not a "safe" role and he puts himself out there heart, mind and soul. Amazingly well done for such a young actor! True talent. Javier Beltran (Lorca), Matthew McNulty (Bunuel), and Marina Gatell (Magdelena) are also excellent.