SimonJack
An interesting film by Andy Garcia that looks back on the Havana that was. Garcia was only five years old when his family fled Cuba in 1961 after the 1959 revolution and Fidel Castro's takeover. "The Lost City" is a nostalgic tribute to his homeland and especially Havana and its musical culture. In a bonus short with this film on DVD, Garcia explains that most people who have had to leave their homelands forcefully always have a longing, a connection with it. That applies to emigrants forced out and those who fled the persecution of oppressive governments. And, children of emigrants as well, he says. This film was some 16 years in the planning. Garcia assembled an excellent cast and craftsmen to produce the film, from the writing to the filming, locations and all aspects. He starred in it himself and also directed it. The shooting locations were in the Dominican Republic with its countryside, shoreline and buildings that are similar to those in Cuba. This is a very good story about family, culture, love, loss, tragedy and freedom. It also is a window on the very beautiful music and culture that was Cuban and Havanan in the past. At the time Garcie made this film, Havana was in a terrible sate of decay. Efforts since have been made to save the city, but much of it is falling into ruin. The film was made in English except for the songs. I don't speak Spanish, so I appreciated the English sub-titles for the music, since the lyrics of the songs are a great deal about the people and culture.
ThatMOVIENut
Andy Garcia's odyssey about a wealthy family living in pre and then revolutionary Cuba ultimately succumbs to a lot of the same problems as many historical pictures, telling a story that is far less compelling than its setting or the actual history (the memory of Mr Bay's 'Pearl Harbor' lingering all too near). Instead of the revolution or the kinds of lives that ordinary people led at that time and how they were affected by the war (a little like Stone's Heaven & Earth), the film centers on this family's internal squabbles, with Garcia as a Rick-esque club owner (right down to a white tux). Couple that with a woefully underutilized cast, with Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray utterly wasted and bored in their roles (Hoffman getting maybe 5-10 minutes of screen time across this 2 1/2 hour film as gangster Meyer Lansky), uneven direction that spans from vibrant & colourful, like the clubs and sunsets, to amateurishly bland & flat, including the 'oh-so-beloved' close-up/shaky cam action, and woefully slow pacing (especially for, again, a 2 1/2 hour feature that should be more careful) and you have an admirable but ultimately misguided effort. A shame too, as there is potential here, especially in the setting, war being told from those who lived in thick of it not often tackled by big mainstream films, and for what it's worth, the soundtrack has the expected but welcome Cuban pep to it, and the action is not afraid to get visceral or bloody, but again, it just doesn't ever come together as it should.
Iva96
As I wish to visit Cuba if I'll have the chance, I thought of this movie that it would be an interesting introduction to the city of Havana, to its people and to its history. Now, to be fair with the movie, it has great soundtrack and it shows people dancing everywhere (at least, they used to do so before Fidel came). Apart from that, the general feeling while watching the movie was that probably Andy Garcia had in his mind something like: "hey, I'm the producer, it's my money, so I'll direct it, make the score, and play the leading role!".I noticed other comments about how deep and insightful this movie is. In my view it is far from that. We had our own share of communism in Romania, so I guess I know what I'm talking about. Mr. Garcia does not. He only has a shallow vision about what happened there, about the drama of the people and about what a revolution means (or at least this is what he shows to us).Regarding the main characters, I found them to be unconvincing. I count here the entire family of the main character. And all the time we have close-ups of Mr. Garcia's eyes, reminding me about the expression of Steven Seagal.I wouldn't have bothered to write a review, but I really felt cheated for the time I spent watching the movie. Whatever you want (history, romance, drama, good acting, etc.) try something else.
Trevor Tooze
I was looking forward to seeing this film, mainly because this is a subject that seems to have been avoided by film makers.I did not care which side of the political spectrum was portrayed, but was expecting some entertainment, which at first was promising, but then faded into a plot that was hard to follow, and got boring. To list Dustin Hoffmann as a major character was wrong, considering he virtually had but two cameo appearances in the whole movie, and Bill Murray's character did not do anything for him to even enjoy being in the credits.In all, it lacked everything that I would have expected from this cast.
AD
