El Cantante

Posted by Nathan Deen (nathan@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 4, 2007

Possible Spoilers Ahead

The biopic genre, especially the ones about musicians, seems to be rapidly getting old in the minds of viewers. It seems much like the same thing over and over again. As Debbie Reynolds so eloquently put in the musical “Singin in the Rain,” “Once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.” Thus it’s a small miracle that “El Cantante” still seems fresh. Reynolds’ statement may be true for these films. If you compare “El Cantante” to this summer’s earlier singer biopic “La Vie En Rose,” the similarities are overwhelming. Both movies have their titles referring to a famous song by the singer. Both stories are about the rise and fall of these performers and the numerous life obstacles along the way; the biggest one being substance abuse. I’d call it unfair to prejudge these films because of their lack of originality, but that’s just the way it is. However, there are parts of these films, that if properly executed, music biopics can rise above the circumstances and these preconceived notations. “El Cantante” succeeds for the most part.

This biopic is about Hector Lavoe, who arguably invented the music of Salsa. Hector Lavoe started as Hector Perez and he is wonderfully played by Marc Anthony (“Man on Fire”). A Puerto Rican, Hector has a gift for singing and has dreams of making it big. When we meet him he is a likable character, filled with good intentions. He moves to New York to live with his sister and to get his singing career going. He teams up with a well-known singer named Willie Colon and together they hit it big. He meets future soul-mate Puchi (Jennifer Lopez), the sister of one of his friends. These are the good years and there are plenty of bad ones to come. Hector succumbs to a drug addiction while at the same time trying to raise a family. Then the drug addiction eventually leads to a battle with AIDS.

The film has flaws that mostly include plot holes but the pros need to be discussed first. I thought Marc Anthony gave one of the year’s best performances as Hector. He lights up the screen on and off the stage. Anthony’s ability to act matches his ability to perform and he is just sensational doing both. The movie is destined to get your feet tapping with it’s catchy songs and it’s in these scenes where “El Cantante” is the most absorbing. It also manages to stay afloat when the camera is not on Marc Anthony singing. Director Leon Ichaso does a nice job on focusing on the characters.

On the other hand though, Ichaso’s film does skips a few beats. There are several dramatic plot-points that just don’t have enough set up to them, rather they sort of just happen spontaneously. Like in the beginning where Hector wants to leave for America at the cost of knowing he will lose the love of his father because it’s against his will. We don’t know his father very well and at this point, we don’t even know Hector very well. We just jump straight to New York when a couple of key scenes could have been added. At 105 minutes, the film isn’t even overly long. This problem continues down the road like when Hector suspects Puchi is cheating on him and yet there has been no tension building up to this point, nor is this even relevant to what had been happening the previous fifteen minutes. Not all of the dramatic scenes fall flat. There are some nice ones like the scenes showing what Hector does off stage, which are in no way shy. They are realistic and don’t hold back. Parts of “El Cantante” achieve near greatness which is a compliment to the superb performance by Anthony

Jennifer Lopez doesn’t sizzle quite as much as Anthony but her performance is par for the course. The film opens with her being interviewed about the life of Hector and we go back to this interview periodically throughout the film. For my money, these scenes should have been left out of the film altogether, leaving more room for those setup scenes the movie is lacking. Also this only starts a conflict about who the main character is. Puchi is a hypocritical character. There’s a scene with her arguing with Hector, telling him to quit using drugs and focus on his family and his career and in her interview she says she never smoked or drank or anything but we know that’s a lie because she’s sniffing cocaine every chance she gets. She’s just as messed up as Hector.

Overall, “El Cantante” isn’t disappointing, but I got the feeling this is a good film that should have been a great one, despite the fact that this is everything we’ve ever seen before. The script needs to fill some gaps but the character development is excellent and Marc Anthony owns the picture. Even when the film hits its low points, electrifying music is never far away to help compensate. It’s the music that these films use to their advantage and that’s what I think will help keep this genre alive.

Grade: B

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