Take away the film’s undeniable visual panache, and you’re left with an ultimately sentimental and protracted tale of male redemption.
Iñárritu has made a modern classical tragedy and, in Javier Bardem, he has found his first authentic hero; a character caught up in an intricate web of events he cannot extricate himself from.
Excesses aside, Iñárritu’s fresh focus and tactile direction pack a palpable punch here. Bardem hefts much of the weight with bare-bones assurance, redeeming his rep after Eat Pray Love.
If the film were any more portantous, it would be laughable.
Oppressively bleak, intermittently powerful, a loud lunge at themes better quietly pondered, it’s a heavyweight dramatic experience in good ways and bad.
This film is like being bashed over the head with a gravestone. And that cute misspelling of the title doesn't get any less annoying.
It may not convert, or convince, but it is certainly arresting: not magic realism exactly, but rather the director's very own brand of magic naturalism.
Well acted, but monumentally depressing.
Overlong (138 minutes), and demanding in other ways, but Bardem’s performance more than rewards the effort.
There's no denying Iñárritu's striking images do the job of creating a deliberately oppressive atmosphere, but without Bardem, any human connection would be lost.
A sombre drag, maintaining almost unbroken glumness as it heaps woe after woe upon its hero. Fortunately Bardem's ox-like shoulders can take it, and one of the film's saving graces is the quiet, dignified solidity of his Oscar-nominated performance.
Bardem is unlikely to win the best actor Oscar for which he has been nominated, but in the absence of Of Gods and Men from the shortlist, it seems likely that Biutiful will win the Academy Award for best foreign language film.
Interview: Javier Bardem, actor
Javier Bardem: 'People watch me. I feel absurd'
Biutiful--Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu interview
Spanish inquisition: why Javier Bardem was haunted by his new film
Javier Bardem goes from the bad to the Biutiful
Interview: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, film director
Alejandro Gonzalex Inarritu interview for Biutiful
General release. Check local listings for show times.