Before Night Falls
The movie is a richly imagined journey into the life and writings of brilliant Cuban author and exile Reinaldo Arenas, from his childhood in Oriente province to his death in New York City.
4 March 1950, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico
6 April 1940, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
21 January 1974, New York City, New York, USA
7 June 1973, Los Angeles, California, USA
1 May 1945, New York City, New York, USA
12 January 1966, Paris, France
1977, USA
1965
1 March 1969, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain
29 December 1979, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
11 July 1953, Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
7 February 1946, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
4 September 1973, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
9 June 1963, Owensboro, Kentucky, USA
September 25, 2010
"Before Night Falls" exuberantly portrays a writer whose legacy remains an acutely observant childhood spirit that no perversion of politics could break. Javier Bardem blends the swagger of Robert Downey Jr. and the brooding of a young Al Pacino.
March 12, 2001
Clearly this is Bardem's show. And Bardem walks away with it.
February 23, 2001
Consistently intriguing and surprisingly entertaining.
June 21, 2007
Schabel's most recent work fails to move me. While the story of Reinaldo Arenas is tragic enough to be interesting (and Javier Bardem's performance sympathetic) the film as a whole simply seems long and indulgent.
May 10, 2013
This could have been a compelling movie about a wonderful writer, but instead it's a tedious, pointless mess. After spending over 2 hours with Arenas, I still knew nothing about him. Javier Bardem's great performance seemed to be a complete waste.
June 04, 2001
In uniting to honor Arenas, Bardem and Schnabel create something extraordinary.
February 23, 2001
It's a struggle not just to make art but to exist, which is itself an art. And to that goal, the cast members, led by the astonishing Bardem, allow themselves to be devoured by the roles they are playing.
April 30, 2011
One of the first features about Castro's impact on artists and homosexuals, this biopic is well acted by Bardem
February 17, 2003
Saddled with a wandering opening and an equally listless conclusion, a more fitting name for this two hour-plus biopic might well be Before Night Falters.
February 23, 2001
Soulful, deeply moving.
July 25, 2003
despite a real commitment to Arenas and his work, the film just falls short.
February 23, 2001
Though Schnabel's first picture, Basquiat, was notable for its excess and self-indulgence, the filmmaker shows restraint and maturity in this moving depiction of Arenas's life and loves.
