Customer Reviews

Romantico (Sub English)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a subtle, dignified documentary narrated mostly with the simple words and romantic lyrics of a humble man. We follow several months in the surprisingly unromantic life of a 64 year old Mexican mariachi musician and singer named Carmelo. We walk with him as he sings and plays his amazing guitar in San Francisco's restaurants, and eventually back home in his Salvatierra, Mexico, at funerals, weddings, among the prostitutes at the local bars, and at last, his daughter's Quinceañera. It is a bittersweet reunion, coming home, for his family struggles once more financially as it takes weeks to earn the the money it often took only a night to earn in the US.

Through it all, Carmelo never complains. He appears almost shy, but determined to save something to ensure a secure future for his daughters, no matter what the price he might pay to his own health and safety. The many obstacles faced in a working-class migrant's life on both sides of the border might normally overwhelm the casual American viewer, if not for the truly gorgeous music and the traveled face of the leading man. The lyrics to the many Mexican traditional ballads are subtitled and often laced with great humor. Carmelo is no amateur musician, though even he admits, this was not how he expected to make his living. There is an amazing scene where his band accompanies a large funeral procession on foot among hundreds of mourners. Carmelo's baritone voice can be heard without a microphone, for several blocks. This movie gives beautiful voice to one of the less-noticed but no less eloquent.

Carmelo Muniz hijacked director Mark Becker's film. But, to be fair, Becker let him. In the director's interview on this DVD, the San Franciscan says he had originally planned to make a documentary about mariachi players in his mostly Latino neighborhood. The last interview of the night with Muniz, however, was the best. The illegal immigrant musician, who sent money home to feed his family and send his daughters to school, answered questions with eloquence, and his story reeled Becker in.

The hijacking continued when Becker's single week of filming in San Francisco extended into weeks that took him across the border to Mexico when Muniz returned home to see his sick mother. As a musician in his beloved hometown, Muniz makes pennies on the dollar what he made in front of San Francisco eateries. He yearns to return to the States, but fears as he gets older he can't make the dangerous trip.

But Becker doesn't dwell on illegal immigration or politics so much as let Muniz tell his story. In the film, Muniz says he's waited his whole life to tell his story, and he somehow knew it would happen. He's charismatic, hard-working, open to change, and has a dream to be big. In a way, this film made it happen for him in the States and in Mexico. It's testimony to Muniz's storytelling and Becker's careful filmmaking that anyone who watches this film will be glad to have spent time with Muniz.

DVD Extras: A filmed interview with the director reveals he's well-spoken, intelligent, and interesting. It also explains what's happened to Muniz since the film was made. Deleted scenes of Muniz's hometown of Salvatierra and his own walking tour, with camera, through its streets are treats. A Q&A from a screening of the film is too short.

This is a moving thoughtful film that makes you aware of the difficult choices that some people must make - the choice of providing for their family or being with their family. The main character, Carmelo, simply can't be in two places at the same time and the strain of his choice is evident on both him and his family.
This movie should not only touch your heart, but make you realize how lucky you are that this is not a choice you need make - but one that so many make on a daily basis.
Visually pleasing with a great soundtrack you are on Carmelo's journey with him and connect with the other characters in the film.
This is a definite must see documentary and it is no wonder that it won support from Sundance and Slamdance.

I saw this movie in the theater. You should never believe what you read on the DVD box but in this case it's true: It really IS a moving portrait. It was eye-opening as well as entertaining. Anyone who wants to learn more about an immigrant's life, Mexico, the life of a modern troubadour and CERTAINLY anyone who lives in or loves San Francisco won't regret checking this out.

Mark Becker's Romantico is one of the most poignant and beautiful documentaries I've seen in recent years. Gorgeously shot and impeccably edited, it represents an extremely subtle kind of filmmaking: a rare thing these days. If you want a didactic lecture on border politics, look elsewhere--this film conveys the heartbreak of one individual caught in the gears of global economics on a highly personal level. Its patience allows the story to unfold at a pace appropriate to the subject matter and challenges the audience to draw its own lessons rather than ramming an agenda down one's throat. The wave of commercially successful documentaries over the past five or so years has led to a sort of renaissance of documentary in America, or so we're told. (In some ways, even reality TV can lay partial claim to opening the eyes of the general public to the entertainment value of non-fiction cinema...if only by making viewers more savvy about how film manipulates so-called reality.) But Romantico is a throwback to an earlier, purer school of documentary, recalling Fred Wiseman, the early work of the Maysles, Pennebaker, Robert Drew, etc. Carmelo's story is incredibly moving and meticulously told: seeing Romantico will restore your faith in the state of American documentary filmmaking as well. (I also hope someone has the foresight to release the terrific soundtrack.)

As a film student and independent filmmaker sometimes I wonder whether it's really worth it (after considering the financial risks, how limited the opportunities are, all the thankless parts involved in the process, etc...) Romantico's poster caught my eye at the Landmark Century Theater in Chicago and I knew that film was there to teach me A LOT OF LESSONS. I ordered it even before it had been released on DVD. I waited for weeks impaciently. I had to see it, I had to see it!!! There was something for me in that film. I could tell from the stills. The day came when I finally saw the film at home, late at night, in the middle of a extremely frustrating pre-production of a student film project. Romantico inspired me to move on, never give up, partly because of Carmelo's amazing personality. Partly because this film showed me that filmmaking pays off if you end up doing something so powerful. In other words: Romantico exceeded my expectations. I am not going to do a film review because that really isn't my thing. How the cinematographer captures the voice of the urban murals in San Francisco and the rural and colonial landscape in Salvatierra is just part of what makes the film so attractive to me. Carmelo's attitude, the characters' humanity, the strong messages expressed in simple words. All of that is even more important for me than the technical parts. I absolutely love this film, the songs, the people, the places, everything...

Such a great film. I am no film buff and rarely watch documentaries but I saw this in the theater and was blown away. The cinematography was very well done and the music paired with certain shots is making me hope that a sound track will follow.

While documentary films are more popular than they've ever been, there's also been a pull towards the sensational. We've come to expect films that put the worst of human nature on display. And while human suffering flows through the heart of Romantico, this film gives dignity and voice to a character who is all too often reduced to stereotype.

Actually, it's not really fair to say the film gives Carmelo a voice. The voice here is his. It's a voice filled with wisdom, experience, and undying romanticism. Becker's film is really just a stage on which a relatively ordinary person tells a story that is by turns wrenching and inspiring, and that ultimately brings us into intimate contact with someone from a walk of life that many ignore or treat as political fodder. And he does it without pandering or victimizing.

Oh, and the film is gorgeous. It's hard to think of an independent documentary in recent years that looked more beautiful. In its simplicity and in its dedication to style and nuance, it's the kind of film that is a rare and welcome discovery, even as the doc landscape sprawls outward.

This film is gorgeous and tells a touching story in a thoughtful way. The outside story is about immigration and poverty but the inside story is about a man who wants more than anything to be a good father and husband. In that, the story is utterly universal.

Like so many Mexicans, Carmelo is best able to provide well for his family by working a low-paying job illegally in the United States. But while he provides for them, he is lonely and far away from them. This irony is intensified as one of his jobs is roaming the streets and playing romantic music to people for money; romantic music that he never gets to play for his own wife.

The film is quite subtle and deep, with also many sweet moments of music and insight into the heart of a man.

Intelligent, sad documentary about two illegal Mexican immigrants who try to scratch out a living,
and send some money home, playing music in various restaurants. They also work all day at other
jobs.

The film follows Carmelo Sanchez, one of the two, as he returns to Mexico to care for his ailing,
aging mother, and finds himself torn between staying and returning to the US.

This is a very effective film at giving those of us who will never know this kind of hard life some
insight into what so many other human beings around us go through. Yet, at least on first viewing,
there was also a little something missing. While it was always interesting, it never touched my
heart as deeply as it did my head, I'm not sure why. Maybe there was just a little feeling of
remove that the film never quite got around. Maybe it's because Sanchez himself is so stoic,
and keeps so much inside.

But still a very good movie, and an important one for all of us lucky enough not to live in want.