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El Cantante

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For the albums, see El Cantante (Andrés Calamaro album) and El Cantante (Marc Anthony album).
El Cantante
Directed byLeon Ichaso
Written byLeon Ichaso
David Darmstaeder
Todd Anthony Bello
Produced byJulio Caro
Simon Fields
Jennifer Lopez
David Maldonado
StarringMarc Anthony
Jennifer Lopez
Music byMarc Anthony
Jennifer Lopez
Distributed byPicturehouse
Release dates
Running time
106 minutes
LanguageEnglish / Spanish
Box office$24,521,532 (including DVD sales)[1]

El Cantante is a 2006 biographical film which stars singers Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez. The film is based on the life of the late salsa singer Héctor Lavoe, who is portrayed by Anthony.[2] The film is told from the viewpoint of Puchi, Hector's wife, portrayed by Lopez. Initially debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2006, El cantante was released on August 3, 2007.

Distributed by Picturehouse, the film runs for 106 minutes and is rated R for language, sexuality and drug use.[3]

Plot

Puchi (Jennifer Lopez) talks about her late husband, salsa legend Héctor Lavoe "El Cantante De Los Cantantes" ("The singer of all the singers") (Marc Anthony), during a 2002 interview. Hector Perez leaves Puerto Rico, even though his father persuades him not to go because if he does he'll lose a father. Hector decides to go anyway against his father's will in an attempt to pursue his dreams. On his first night in the city he meets Eddie (Manny Perez) and discovers the new sound of salsa flowing through the streets. He eventually becomes the lead singer in a salsa group performing in a bar. One night he is approached by salsa musician, Willie Colon(John Ortiz) and Johnny Pacheco. Johnny offers them a deal with Fania Records Company and Hector accepts. The company also suggests that he change his name to Hector Lavoe. "Lavoe" meaning "the voice" in French. Hector falls in love with Puchi, a girl who danced at the club where he performed. He confesses to her that his mother died when he was young, his brother was killed the night he came to New York and that he didn't have many people in his life. She tells him that they'll take care of each other. It is revealed that Hector was cheating on Puchi with another girl named Carmen. Puchi reveals that Carmen and her were pregnant with a baby of his at the same time. But she is the only woman of his life because he chose her. They eventually get married and have a son named Tito. On a night of hard partying, Hector catches Eddie doing drugs and does so too. This will be the start of his drug addiction. Through the years, after Hector's consistent tardiness to gigs, Willie grows tired of Hector's irresponsibility and decides to go solo. Hector's drug and alcohol addiction continues to grow stronger and becomes very noticeable. Puchi is infuriated when she finds Tito eating alone and Hector shooting up while the gas was on. She begs Hector to quit the drugs and to turn his life around for their son and because he is always high and is missing out and she loves him. One night, Puchi wakes up to Hector sitting down, with a gun staring into space. Hector is in a depression mode. In fear she sends him to rehab. Puchi can't help feeling extremely guilty when Hector's sister Priscilla blames all of Hector's problems on her. She later takes him out and he is put under medication. A jealous Hector calls Puchi a whore and frequently accuses her of having affairs with many different men. Hector maintains sober and takes his family to Puerto Rico for vacation. When Hector tries to reconcile with his father after leaving against his will, he rejects Hector. This drives him under more pain. He is diagnosed with HIV and advices Puchi to get tested as well. He maintains sober for a while but soon has a relapse and goes back to his old ways. Puchi and Hector heavily bicker often and it usually ends with him leaving the house and then coming back and apologizing to her. Tito is killed when his friend accidentally shoots him while playing with the gun Hector kept in the house. This scars Hector for the rest of his life. In the interview, Puchi admits that Hector was never the same after that, he died along with their son. She says everyone expected too much from him. Hector confesses to Willie that he loves Puchi and that he wishes he would've done things differently, but it's too late and nothing is the same anymore. Willie encourages him to perform at a gig in Puerto Rico. At the concert, there is less than half of the audience due to bad managing and advertising. Still, he decides to perform for the few people who still showed up while it starts raining. He just couldn't hold in all the pain anymore. The depression and guiltiness are too much for Hector to handle and it drives him to attempt suicide by jumping off a window. He survives the fall and lives another 5 years. Puchi is seen in her new apartment, listening to a voice mail from Hector, wishing her a happy birthday and that he'll always be there and love her. She smiles and begins to dance while looking at a picture of her and Hector on the wall. The movie ends with Hector performing and the credits revealing that he died at the age of 46 to ((AIDS)) , from sharing needles. It is also, revealed that Puchi died shortly after this interview in 2002.

Cast

Release

El cantante, which has an MPAA rating of R, was first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival which took place in September 2006.[4] It was then released to over 542 cinemas on August 3, 2007.[1][5] The film opened at No. 12 at the U.S. Box Office, grossing $3,202,035 during its opening weekend. It averaged around $6,000 per theater. The following week, it grossed $1,401,148 and fell to No. 16. It left the chart at No. 115 on the week of September 28, 2007, after grossing $1,465.[6] El cantante grossed $7,556,712 domestically and $354,820 overseas, totaling $7.9 million.[1]

Charlotte O'Sullivan of the Evening Standard said the "film did not go down well" at the Box Office, crediting its lack of commercial success to Lopez and Anthony "know nothing about salsa" and its "negative view of the Latino community by focusing on Lavoe’s drug use and death from Aids", which had sparked controversy.[7] The film's DVD was released on October 30, 2007. It became a hit, ranking at No. 8 on the DVD/Home Rentals chart at Box Office Mojo, and had grossed $16.61 million in DVD sales as of December 23, 2007.[8]

Critical reception

Following its Toronto International Film Festival premiere, El Cantante earned mostly negative reviews from critics and currently holds a 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 106 reviews.

Robert Koehler of Variety felt that the biopic, which contained "many standard-issue biopic montage sequences", was only "geared for the bigscreen, but the fairly bland visual design will make pic more than suitable to be seen on the tube". Koehler was critical of both performances, feeling that while Lopez brought "plenty of ferocity" to her character, there wasn't "shape" or "power" to her "wrath", and labeled Anthony "the dullest of movie drug addicts".[9]

Marc Anthony's portrayal of Lavoe was met with a mixed reaction from film critics.

A.O. Scott of The New York Times felt that Anthony as Lavoe was hidden behind "his high, delicate cheekbones and tinted glasses" but "Whenever Héctor takes the stage, however, Mr. Anthony unleashes his charisma, and shows that, whatever his limitations as an actor, he is a brilliant performer". Scott praised Lopez's performance, noting that it had "a lot of fight" with "a hard, skeptical edge" that made Puchi "a more interesting and plausible character than her husband".[10] Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine gave the film and Anthony's performance a positive review, but was critical of Lopez, calling her performance "predictably self-conscious" but said her sequences "complements Puchi's own".[11] Renee Schonfield of Common Sense Media gave El cantante a negative review, "brings the magic of salsa music to the screen; unfortunately, it also brings the audience another bleak story of a flameout singer bent on self-destruction".[12]

Kevin Maher of The Times was negative, stating that the "soft-pedalled account of Lavoe's rise to fame and his drug-related downfall that has more in common with the biopic parody Walk Hard than anything as muddy as real life".[13] Claudia Puig of USA Today said Anthony "gives a fine and impassioned performance" in a story that "relies on formula and clichés of the genre" which meant "we don't learn enough about what caused the Puerto Rican-born Lavoe's downward spiral into drug use, promiscuity and suicide attempts after he gained fame in New York City". Additionally, Puig criticized Lopez's airtime by stating "the film has far too much of her and not enough of Anthony".[14]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, in a review based primarily on Lopez, panned her performance and said "There is something entirely dead about Lopez's performance. No matter how superficially lively she makes it, she is always simply mouthing the lines".[15] On the other hand, Charlotte O'Sullivan of the Evening Standard praised Lopez and her character, "Lopez deserves praise for pushing this project. The recently deceased Puchi (who helped generate the script and pushed for Lopez to play her) is not the kind of character you see on screen every day. She has not been whitewashed and neither, thank goodness, has her husband".[7]

Criticism

The film was criticized, and accused of "usurping barrio culture and exploiting Lavoe's memory", with salsa singer Ismael Miranda condemning it for "focusing too much on the tragic artist's drug abuse, which eventually led to his death from AIDS complications". Other celebrities who criticized the film were singer Domingo Quiñónez, and vocalist Cheo Feliciano.[16] Willie Colón, Lavoe's long time friend and musical partner, was critical of the film. Although he had been hired as a consultant for El cantante, he was not pleased with the end result, stating:[16]

"The creators of El Cantante missed an opportunity to do something of relevance for our community. The real story was about Hector fighting the obstacles of a nonsupportive industry that took advantage of entertainers with his charisma and talent. Instead they did another movie about two Puerto Rican junkies".

Additionally, Colón blamed Lopez and Anthony:[16]

"It's difficult to comprehend how two individuals who are in the music business like Marc and Jennifer are not aware of the damage and the consequences of promoting only the negative side of our Latin music culture".

And while the film was predominantly a love story, Colón also noted that in real life, he believed Puchi caused Lavoe's drug problems, but was canonized "so that Jennifer can play her".[16] David L. Coddon of U-T San Diego said following the film's release, "Latino pop culture's highest-profile couple is taking heat from salsa purists who complain that the film, about salsa legend Hector Lavoe, is a distortion, even an exploitation", while also stating Lopez is "one of the most famous women in the world, and there's nothing her critics can do to change that".[17]

NPR's Felix Contreras weighed in on the criticism, pointing out that " any time you have a portrayal of an artist where they reflect a history of drug abuse or alcohol abuse" there would always be criticism, and "in this case, some folks are arguing that the film was focusing on that drug abuse, and not necessarily on what he generated or what he contributed to the music".[18] When commenting on the film, Lopez felt her performance should have earned an Oscar nomination and blamed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for overlooking both the film and her performance.[19]

Accolades

Award Work Result
Outstanding Performance of a Lead Latino / a Cast in a Motion Picture[20] El cantante Nominated
Premios Juventud for Best Movie Nominated
Premios Juventud for Best Actress Jennifer Lopez Nominated
Latin Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album[21] Marc Anthony Won

References

  1. ^ a b c "El Cantante (2007)". Box Office Mojo, Amazon.com. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  2. ^ "latinmusic.about.com". Retrieved 2011-02-11.
  3. ^ "El Cantante". Yahoo!. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  4. ^ Giese, Rachel (September 1, 2006). "Guess Who's Coming to Toronto?". CBC News. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  5. ^ "Marc Anthony Worried about Co-Starring with Jennifer". Go.com, Disney Interactive Media Group. August 3, 2007. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  6. ^ "El Cantante (2007) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo, Amazon.com. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  7. ^ a b O'Sullivan, Charlotte (September 4, 2008). "Dance class with J-Lo in El Cantante". Evening Standard. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  8. ^ "El Cantante (2007) - DVD / Home Video Rentals". Box Office Mojo, Amazon.com. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  9. ^ Koehler, Robert (September 16, 2006). "El Cantante". Variety. Penske Business Media. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  10. ^ Scott, A.O (August 3, 2007). "When the Salsa Throbs, a Singer's Soul Is Revealed". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  11. ^ Gonzalez, Ed (October 27, 2007). "El Cantante". Slant Magazine,. Retrieved January 18, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  12. ^ Schonfeld, Renee (October 28, 2007). "El Cantante". Common Sense Media. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  13. ^ "El Cantante". Rotten Tomatoes, Flixter. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  14. ^ Puig, Claudia (August 3, 2007). "Music is the star of 'El Cantante'". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  15. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (September 5, 2008). "El Cantante". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  16. ^ a b c d Gurza, Augustin (August 4, 2007). "Friendly fire over salsa movie". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  17. ^ Coddon, David (August 24, 2007). "Controversy, film choices don't dim J. Lo's star". U-T San Diego. MLIM Holdings. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  18. ^ "Salsa Star Immortalized in Lopez, Anthony Film". NPR, National Public Radio, Inc. August 8, 2007. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  19. ^ Jennifer Lopez Tells ‘Latina’ Magazine She Deserves An Oscar from Latina magazine February 2010
  20. ^ "Ugly Betty Leads Alma Award Nominations". Showbiz Spy. July 22, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
  21. ^ "Latin Grammy Winners 2008". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. November 13, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
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