New musical movie without rumba or drums

Mireya Castañeda

DIRECTOR Jorge Luis Sánchez has just premiered his second fiction film Irremediablemente juntos (Together), an adaptation of the Pogolotti-Miramar play by Alexis Vazquez. A movie in which the director demonstrates that "to be a Cuban woman you don’t need a drum."

Sánchez has once again opted for a musical. In a press conference at ICAIC’s Fresa y Chocolate Cultural center, he affirmed, "I was interested in adapting this theatrical piece because it speaks to a particularly complicated reality within Cuban society, which has remained under the carpet: racist behavior. All very well established in Alexis’ work, with different ethical, philosophical, religious, social and racial conduct."

Cuba being a country of great musicians and dancers – somebody called it the island of music – this has not been sufficiently reflected in fiction cinematography, apart from films like Patakin, by Manuel Octavio Gómez, and El Benny, Sánchez’ first work (prize in this category at the 2006 28th Festival of New Latin American Cinema), although this is not the case in the documentary genre.

After the press conference, Sánchez offered some precisions.

The original theatrical piece is a musical comedy. The author gave me a totally free hand, and for that reason, my film is not a comedy. He allowed me to enrich it with an obviously different language. It was Alexis himself who suggested making a film version, I hadn’t filmed for six years, but I committed myself because there were aspects of the text which interested me. I adapted the play and created a lot of sub-plots, each character with his/her own contradictions. In particularly wanted to define clearly the racist conduct in both families.

I made a documentary on Raúl Torres, called Atrapando espacios, and began to learn. Raúl had to dub his songs and this window made it possible for me to film El Benny. Juan Manuel Ceruto and I thought it was the same formula, but not at all. We had to do things differently. We do not have the tools to make film musicals, I’m not referring to the cost, but how they are made. But one first step led me to the second and this, the third. If I hadn’t had those experiences, the production would have been very difficult. That little bit of experience gave us security. Clearly seeing the way to do it, building on imagination, dialogues, the songs, seeing how they should be inserted.

Nothing. Alexis’ work did not have a body of music that convinced me. I wasn’t going to put in a guaguancó just because of a scene in a tenement, or a rumba in the street. I don’t believe in that. I asked the composers for musical depth, related to what was happening in the film.

The soundtrack includes 31 musical numbers: 27 singers, 12 choreographies and 100 dancers. The composers are nearly all in the trova genre: Tony Avila, Eduardo Ramos, Alfredo Felipe, Silvio Alejandro, Pedro Beritán, Nelson Valdés, Fidel Díaz, Fernando Bécquer, Maristania Estévez and Cerito himself, in charge of the musical direction in general.

Not counting the script, we began the preparation in July of 2010; started in October and shot it in February of 2011. A huge preparation, because like all directors, I wanted it to have its particular seal. In addition to the adaptation, writing the music, finding the voices to replace those of some of the actors, we selected little known names whose voices resemble those of the actors. Then the choreographies (by Isidro Rolando, National Dance Prize) and of course, the casting.

Various generations and different backgrounds, from television, theater and even fans. It’s a problem in Cuba that acting for cinema, which is different from all the others, isn’t studied. I had to find a syntony.

Young actors Orián Suárez and Ariadna Núñez play the central roles of Liz and Alexander, in a loving relationship in spite of the prejudices of their families. She lives in Miramar apartment and he in a tenement in Pogolotti barrio.

This is Núñez’ first major film role. A graduate of the National School of Arts, she is a member of the El Público theater group directed by Carlos Díaz, but also had a role in the Gerardo Chijona movie Boleto al Paraíso.

Orián began his career in 2006 as part of the Olga Alonso theater group and acted in the TV film La noche del juicio, by Tomás Piard.

Although with a wide-ranging cast (Luis Angel Batista, Wilfredo Candebat, Abelardo López, Monse Duany, Alfredo Reyes, Mireya Chapman), one of Cuba’s most popular actresses, Blanca Rosa Blanco has an important responsibility as Liz’ mother. She is a well-known face in Cuban cinema, with films like Kleines Tropikana, Daniel Díaz Torres; Hasta la Victoria Siempre, Argentine director Juan Carlos Desanzo; Páginas del diario de Mauricio, Manuel Pérez Paredes; El premio flaco, Juan Carlos Cremata; Lisanka, again with Díaz Torres (and offered a role his new movie La película de Ana) and Habanastation, by Ian Padrón.

Fela Jar, the dedicated television, radio and theater actress, winner of the National Television Prize, has the role of Liz’ grandmother. Her first film appearance was in 1948, and years afterwards she played a small part in Humberto Solás’ Amada.

In the press conference, Jar noted, "We rehearsed and discussed a lot and that was very positive. For me, the important thing is the passion which one invests in the work. I accepted my part because, unfortunately, there is still a rejection among races. I made my character as abominable as possible to highlight this situation."

On the style of his movie, Sánchez says:

At all times, the film is seeking realism, but not naturalism. It is the reality of things. The art of the film (director Maykel González) has to be in the function of a concept, not spontaneous. There was a belief that everything expresses something, hence the photography (direction José Manuel Riera), is what registers everything. We painted the houses in one color and adjusted the lighting to seek atmosphere. The color which corresponds to each character; for example the apartment of Cristina (Monse Duany) who leads an isolated life in a terrible environment, so she constructs her space within. Many people live like that here and that had to be reflected. Different photographic and lighting treatment for the Miramar house and those in Pogolotti. We are talking of worlds which must have a particular atmosphere. Each location has a meaning, and I believe that this adjustment of lighting and photography contributed to giving the film a presence. We filmed it in digital format, while El Benny was shot in 35mm. a new language."

For now, I’m filming what comes up and that’s very frustrating. I have various film scripts of my own, one is another musical, but I don’t want to make it now, but wait to look at what I’ve done from a distance. I don’t want to repeat formulas. It’s about a cabaret and has three central characters, all women. (Noche Azul, prize for best unedited script, Humberto Solás International Festival of Low Budget Cinema)

Jorge Luis Sánchez (Havana, 1960), has had many responsibilities in the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC, which produced his new film) since 1981. He was a camera assistant, then direction assistant (for Baraguá, Clandestinos, Un señor muy viejo con unas alas enormes, El verano feliz de la señora Forbes, Papeles secundarios, Hello Hemingway) and worked as artistic deputy director with Santiago Alvarez from 1990-91 on the Noticiero ICAIC Latinoamericano (ICAIC Latin American News).

He is an outstanding documentary maker, with titles such as Dónde está Casal, El Fanguito, Las sombras corrosivas de Fidelio Ponce aún and Cero en conducta.

In this second full length fiction film he has returned to musicals to tell the story of Liz, a young student who lives in Miramar, and Alexander, an athlete of the same age living in Pogolotti. They fall in love despite family prejudices, and expose the past and present conflicts of two families who, as Sánchez says, "Bear more than a few resemblances to those inhabiting our barrios today."

The synopsis of the film affirms, "This love unravels a family past and present full of contradictions and, as a result, double standards, adultery, corruption and racial discrimination…"

The director has not made a suspense movie and thus is not worried about revealing the end of the film: 30 years later, Liz and Alexander, with their mixed race children and grandchildren, visit the grave of members of both families, now "irremediably together."