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Biuiful


The critical consensus

Take away the film’s undeniable visual panache, and you’re left with an ultimately sentimental and protracted tale of male redemption.

***(*)(*)Tom Dawson, The List, 18/01/2011

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.

****(*)Andrew Male, Empire Online, 24/01/2011

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.

****(*)Kevin Harley, Total Film, 26/01/2011

If the film were any more portantous, it would be laughable.

*(*)(*)(*)(*)Nigel Andrews, Financial Times, 26/01/2011

Oppressively bleak, intermittently powerful, a loud lunge at themes better quietly pondered, it’s a heavyweight dramatic experience in good ways and bad.

***(*)(*)Tim Robey, The Telegraph, 27/01/2011

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.

*(*)(*)(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 28/01/2011

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.

***(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 27/01/2011

Well acted, but monumentally depressing.

Paul Greenwood, Evening Times, 27/01/2011

Overlong (138 minutes), and demanding in other ways, but Bardem’s performance more than rewards the effort.

****(*)Alison Rowat, The Herald, 27/01/2011

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.

***(*)(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 29/01/2011

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.

Jonathan Romney, The Independent on Sunday, 30/01/2011

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.

Philip French, The Observer, 30/01/2011


Features about Biuiful

Interview: Javier Bardem, actor

Larry Rohter, The Scotsman, 05/01/2011

Javier Bardem: 'People watch me. I feel absurd'

James Mottram, The Independent on Sunday, 16/01/2011

Biutiful--Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu interview

Tom Dawson, The List, 18/01/2011

Spanish inquisition: why Javier Bardem was haunted by his new film

Vicki Reid, The Telegraph, 24/01/2011

Javier Bardem goes from the bad to the Biutiful

The Herald, 24/01/2011

Interview: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, film director

Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 27/01/2011

Alejandro Gonzalex Inarritu interview for Biutiful

Benjamin Secher, The Telegraph, 29/01/2011

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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