Before night falls / Fineline Features ; a Grandview Pictures production ; Jon Kilik presents a film by Julian Schnabel ; produced by Jon Kilik ; written by Cunningham O'Keefe, Lázaro Gómez Carriles, Julian Schnabel ; directed by Julian Schnabel.
Material type:
FilmPublisher number: N5251 | New Line Home EntertainmentLanguage: English, French, Spanish Original language: English Subtitle language: English, French, Spanish Series: Inclusion collectionPublication details: Los Angeles, Calif. : Fine Line Features : Distributed by New Line Home Entertainment, ©2001.Description: 1 videodisc (133 min.) : sound, color with black and white sequences ; 4 3/4 inContent type: - two-dimensional moving image
- video
- videodisc
- 0780634934
- 9780780634930
- Before night falls (Motion picture)
- Arenas, Reinaldo, 1943-1990 -- Film adaptations
- Arenas, Reinaldo, 1943-1990 -- Drama
- Authors, Cuban -- 20th century -- Biography -- Drama
- Gay men -- Cuba -- Biography -- Drama
- Poets, Cuban -- 20th century -- Biography -- Drama
- Cuba -- History -- Revolution, 1959 -- Drama
- Cuba -- Social conditions -- Drama
- Male homosexuality -- Cuba -- Drama
- Gay men -- Cuba -- Social conditions -- Drama
- Socialism and homosexuality -- Cuba -- Drama
- Political persecution -- Cuba -- Drama
- Censorship -- Cuba -- Drama
- Prisons -- Cuba -- Drama
- Exiles -- Cuba -- Drama
- Cubans -- United States -- Drama
- Directors of photography, Xavier Pérez Grobet, Guillermo Rosas ; editor, Michael Berenbaum ; music composed, orchestrated and conducted by Carter Burwell ; production designer, Salvador Parra ; costume designer, Mariestela Fernández ; consultant, Melanio Filiberto Hebra.
- Independent Spirit Award, 2001, Best Male Lead (Bardem); NBR Award, 2000, Best Actor (Bardem); NSFC Award, 2001, Best Actor (Bardem); SEFCA Award, 2001, Best Actor (Bardem).
- Venice Film Festival, 2000, Grand Special Jury Prize (Schnabel); OCIC Award, Special Mention (Schnabel); Rota Soundtrack Award (Carter Burwell); Volpi Cup, Best Actor (Bardem).
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult DVD
|
Main Library | DVD | DRAMA Before n | Available | 33111009524378 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
For his sophomore feature film effort, visual artist Julian Schnabel chronicles the life of one of Cuba's most charismatic literary voices, the late Reinaldo Arenas. Working with Arenas' friends and family, Schnabel recounts the author's impoverished rural upbringing and the intense love and support he receives from his mother (played by the director's wife, Olatz Lopez Garmendia). As a young man, Arenas (Javier Bardem) is singled out by his teachers and encouraged to further his skills as a writer -- no easy task, considering the Castro regime's censorship of any work considered to be subversive or anti-authoritarian. Still, the author manages to smuggle his work out of the country through friends, who arrange for one of his novels to be published in France. Not only persecuted for his creative beliefs, the openly gay Arenas is jailed on a bogus sex charge; he escapes internment only to be captured and persecuted later for his contraband dispatches. In 1980, Arenas is finally allowed to leave Cuba for the United States, where he achieves freedom of expression but not prosperity. Schnabel's first film was another portrait of an artist, 1996's Basquiat; Bardem made his name in several of director Pedro Almodovar's Spanish-language productions. Before Night Falls premiered at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, where it received the Best Actor and Grand Special Jury prizes, and made its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Bardem would go on to receive a host of accolades, including an eventual Best Actor nomination at the 2001 Academy Awards. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
DVD; NTSC, region 1; widescreen presentation preserving the 1.85:1 aspect ratio of the original theatrical exhibition, enhanced for widescreen televisions; Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo.
In English or Spanish and a small section in French with optional subtitles in English, Spanish, or French; closed-captioned in English.
Javier Bardem, Olivier Martinez, Andrea Di Stefano, Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, John Ortiz, Santiago Magill, Michael Wincott, Najwa Nimri, Alfredo Villa, Rene Rivera, Maurice Compte, Vincent Laresca, Manuel Gonzalez, Hector Babenco.
Directors of photography, Xavier Pérez Grobet, Guillermo Rosas ; editor, Michael Berenbaum ; music composed, orchestrated and conducted by Carter Burwell ; production designer, Salvador Parra ; costume designer, Mariestela Fernández ; consultant, Melanio Filiberto Hebra.
Originally released as motion picture in 2000.
Based on the memoir Before night falls (Antes que anochezca) by Reinaldo Arenas.
MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong sexual content, some language and brief violence.
Before Night Falls is Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas' account of his life, first in Castro's Cuba and then in exile, in the United States. Its power is two-fold: it's an intoxicating, intensely erotic account of sexual discovery and liberation, and a devastating record of the artist's persecution under the Castro regime. Arenas endured pursuit, surveillance, and incarceration because he was a gay man and a political dissident (not by his writings per se, but by virtue of having manuscripts smuggled and published abroad). In his memoir, Arenas recalls in exacting detail his childhood full of sexual curiosity, his adolescent rebellions, sexual experiences and creative developments during his 20s, and his torture and imprisonment as an adult. Arenas' story seems almost too much to be lived by a single man. When he finally left Cuba during the 1980 Mariel Harbor boatlift, Arenas stopped briefly in Miami and then moved to New York City, where he still lived in near-poverty and before long, developed AIDS. He committed suicide in 1990.
"A look at the life of Cuban author Reinaldo Arenas, from childhood in Cuba to his death in New York City. His writings and homosexuality get him in trouble with Castro's Cuba and he spends two years in prison before leaving for the United States. Victimized by a government that banned his books and jailed him for a crime he didn't commit, [poet] Reinaldo [Arenas] endured unspeakable persecution in a courageous stand against censorship and oppression. Without a country, but not without integrity, he fled to America where he continued to fight for personal expression and produced a stirring body of work."--Container.
Childhood -- Holguín, 1958 -- "The parade begins" -- Havana, 1964 -- Pepe -- New start -- Beauty is the enemy -- Revolutionaries -- 4 types -- Crackdown -- Article 243 -- Outside help -- Accusations -- Escape -- In hiding -- Prison -- Bon Bon -- Punishment -- Lieutenant Victor -- Free again -- Being a writer -- Pepe's escape -- Exit permit -- Stateless -- Strain -- Promise -- End credits.
Special features: Commentary with director Julian Schnabel, actor Javier Bardem, screenwriter Lázaro Gómez Carilles, composer Carter Burwell, and co-director of photography Xavier Pérez Grobet [optional audio feature]; Excerpts from "Improper conduct," 1983 interview with Reinaldo Arenas (7 min.); Behind the scenes: Home movie by Lola Schnabel [featurette] (8 min.); Little notes on painting: Artwork by Julian Schnabel (15 min.); Cast and crew [text feature]; Theatrical trailer (2 min).
"For Lázaro Gómez Carriles."--Note during end credits.
"[Film sequence during] end credits from the film 'PM' by Orlando Jiménez Leal and Saba Cabrera, banned in Cuba in 1961"--Note during end credits.
Independent Spirit Award, 2001, Best Male Lead (Bardem); NBR Award, 2000, Best Actor (Bardem); NSFC Award, 2001, Best Actor (Bardem); SEFCA Award, 2001, Best Actor (Bardem).
Venice Film Festival, 2000, Grand Special Jury Prize (Schnabel); OCIC Award, Special Mention (Schnabel); Rota Soundtrack Award (Carter Burwell); Volpi Cup, Best Actor (Bardem).