El Cantante
El Cantante (DVD) (WS)
Superstars Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony headline a film as emotional, powerful and driving as the man and music whose story it tells, Héctor Lavoe and the Salsa his voice brought to the world — El Cantante. It’s the 1970s, and Salsa is exploding on the world with a Nuyorican sound from the streets of Spanish Harlem that blends Latin, Jazz and African American rhythms and harmonies. Riding the rocket of sudden stardom, Lavoe (Anthony) becomes the voice of the new sound, even as he struggles with personal demons and addictions. Only Lavoe’s wife, Puchi (Lopez–Selena), whose devotion has put Lavoe on the path to superstardom may be able keep him from self-destruction in the face sudden fame.
]]>Though they don’t look much alike, slight actor-singer Marc Anthony was born to play robust salsa sensation Héctor Lavoe. In addition to similar ancestry and vocal skills, Anthony has been building a respectable cinematic resume with roles in Big Night and Martin Scorsese’s Bringing out the Dead. The title of El Cantante comes from a number Rubén Blades wrote for The Singer. Lavoe would make it his signature song. In the film, Anthony’s wife, producer Jennifer Lopez, plays Puchi, the Nuyorican beauty who won Lavoe’s heart. She narrates their story from the perspective of 2002 (the real-life Puchi passed away shortly afterwards). Leon Ichaso (Piñero) contrasts Lavoe’s rise from Puerto Rican street singer to New York superstar with his fall from innocent immigrant to heroin-addicted ladies man. By the mid-1980s, Lavoe’s popularity hit its peak, and Ichaso spends the rest of the time ticking off the tragedies of his final years: the break with trombonist Willie Colón (John Ortiz), stay in a mental ward, etc. It’s a dynamic portrait, and Anthony and Lopez work well together, but despite the urban setting and Latin-flavored soundtrack, El Cantante follows virtually the same trajectory as Ray and Walk the Line (Ichaso has also directed biopics of Jimi Hendrix and Muhammad Ali). His movie looks and sounds authentic, but Lavoe’s story might’ve been better served as nonfiction. There’s a sense that there was more to the man than what appears on screen. –Kathleen C. Fennessy- El Cantante
