Watch Buena Vista Social Club For Free

Why so much hype?

People are voting emotionally.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I just re-watched this, for I don't know how many times now, and it still holds up! This film relaxes me and mellows me out, and I love the music, the stories, and everything about it (except the constant camera-circling-its-subject style). I remember the first time I saw it, I got so fired up about the music that I bought cds by Ibrahim, Rueben, Eliades, Omara, and Compay Segundo! I'm curious to see the sequel now!

In 1996, Ry Cooder and others assembled forgotten veteran Cuban musicians to form the Buena Vista Social Club. The original Club has long since gone. This movie has their recent performances. Individuals are interviewed about their struggles during tough times and their music.This is a time capsule in more than one way. It recalls the time when Cuba is starting to reach America. It's the hesitant start of a political thaw. The music itself is a throwback to an earlier time period. The musicians' stories are another throwback to another era. It can get repetitive as each musician gets his own section. The music is great. It's touching and funny when the men visit NYC for the first time. That is yet another time capsule as they look out onto the twin towers. This is a fine documentary.

This is my first post-WINGS OF DESIRE Wenders movie, and despite all the hype around it at the time, my first experience with the music of the Buena Vista Social Club. The music itself is fantastic, featuring memorable and rich songs with accomplished musicianship and great passion. It was a pleasure to spend time with the players and learn a little bit (unfortunately, not a whole lot) about their lives and careers. However, the cinematography is simply awful. Undoubtedly there are limitations involved with filming in Cuba, but the use of early digital video cameras gives the movie a cheap, amateurish, washed-out look. It's very unpleasant to behold, especially with the shaky camera-work. It feels like it was all done rather haphazardly with little thought. You're probably better off just buying the CD.

Wim Wenders heads to Cuba with country music guitarist Ry Cooder to produce an album about traditional Cuban music as played and sung by those artists still alive to play the songs. With most of the artist's ages topping the 80's, the power with which they sing and play will knock your socks off. Each person has a story. One didn't sing for ten years before this because there was no money in singing in Cuba. Another worked with a blind bandleader who would get uproariously drunk and chase after people in a blind, drunken rage. The movie was about more than just the music. The people themselves are the reason why the movie and the music is still around. True that can be said about all different kinds of music, but it's these people's spice to life that make their form of music all the more interesting. Would the Beatles be the Beatles today had Paul and John not been in fierce competition with each other? They all had the music in them, but sometimes it's the people that make the music interesting. After the album, "The Buena Vista Social Club" reached popular success in the States, Cooder took the group on a worldwide tour to play in Amsterdam and finally in Carnegie Hall in New York City. Some of the movie takes place during these concerts, showcasing each artist's particular addition to the band. This is then paralleled by a personal showcase of the artist playing their instrument as the camera swirls around their bodies, examining every part of them in an attempt to uncover and find out what makes them so great. This is probably my favorite Wim Wenders film as the topic is so nostalgic it fills my heart with grief to think of pre-50's Havana as gone. And I was born in 1985. Picked this up at the University library on VHS. Would like to see Wim Wenders' commentary on the film on DVD.