Alumbrones
Alumbrones
| 12 September 2014 (USA)
Alumbrones Trailers

This documentary feature looks at the work and lives of twelve contemporary Cuban artists, living in Havana today. Through in-depth interviews, the film covers a diverse range of subjects and issues, from supply shortages and constant blackouts ('apagones') to family life, love, sex and music. Visiting each person in their home and studio, the film explores the varying styles, techniques, themes, philosophies and ideas present in their work. Through this is revealed the many obstacles and difficulties that are faced on a daily basis and the feelings each person has towards the place they call home.

Reviews
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Palaest recommended
SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
michrays I went to this movie thinking I was going to see the greatest living artists in Cuba, or something close to that. This, the artists chosen for this movie were not. It wasn't until over halfway through that I discovered why. Suddenly instead of being in Havana, Cuba, we were in Boston, Massachusetts. WTF. Oh! we are looking at some gallery that exhibits Cuban artists. Wait! I know that place. I live in the area. Sometimes, I go to the SOWA galleries off Washington Street. This gallery is there. Usually my friends and I just skip this place because the artists are, well, mediocre, maybe cutesy, maybe using cubist or like techniques that were old fifty years ago. They are not downright bad, like some of the art in the SOWA galleries. They are mediocre. Somehow, the guy who made this film became friends with the owner of this gallery, who must have given him an open introduction to all the artists in his "stable". So instead of doing the hard legwork necessary to really find out the great living artists of Cuba, the filmmaker just had an easy, lazy work of it. Unfortunately that meant that I missed out on a real film with the real artists of Cuba who are doing really great stuff. That will come sometime later. I HOPE. Finally, I am interested in artists because of their visual imagination. I am not interested in them as talking heads--which is what they are in this movie.