{"id":13065,"date":"2012-02-16T18:29:07","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T01:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/?p=13065"},"modified":"2012-02-16T18:31:29","modified_gmt":"2012-02-17T01:31:29","slug":"latin-jazz-illuminates-animated-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/latin-jazz-illuminates-animated-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Latin jazz illuminates animated film"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In this still from the film Chico & Rita, Rita stands in Havana Square. Photo Courtesy Gkids Films<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When you hear that a movie set in Cuba in the years prior to the country\u2019s 1959 Socialist Revolution has been nominated by the U.S. Film Academy, the political motivations behind this act seem suspect, and it calls the film\u2019s merits into doubt.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the filmic merits of \u201cChico & Rita\u201d are indeed many: It is a delight for the senses and a joy from start to finish. Viewers will be stunned by the animation and spectacular settings, as well as a memorable soundtrack by the Cuban musician, Bebo Vald\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

And if there were any political motivation to distribute this film in commercial theaters in the U.S., it would be for the music, however indirect that may be.<\/p>\n

\u201cChico & Rita\u201d is a testament to the rich Cuban heritage of jazz music, in particular that genre so recently eliminated as a category from the Grammys awarded by the U.S. Academy of Music, \u2018Latin Jazz\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the words of Tono Errando, manager of the film\u2019s animation team, the \u201840s and \u201850s \u201care a fantastic period where Cuban musicians go to New York and link up with Anglo-Saxon jazz musicians. This fusion changed the music of the era.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Errando, the directing of \u201cChico & Rita\u201d (a Hispanic-British co-production) was taken on by filmmaker Fernando Trueba and graphic artist Javier Mariscal.<\/p>\n

The script, structured around various \u2018flashbacks\u2019, revolves around a love story. \u201cA classic: a girl and a guy. She is a singer and he is a pianist \u2026 It is a film filled with music and love and sensuality and color … with how life brings them together and tears them apart like in a song, like in a bolero,\u201d Trueba explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be very beautiful to tell the story of the musicians. And he told me no, that should be the backdrop to the film\u201d, Mariscal said, referring to a conversation with Trueba during the movie\u2019s production.<\/p>\n

Javier Mariscal, creator of the \u201cCobi\u201d mascot for Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and the movie\u2019s illustrator, said, \u201cBefore starting to draw we said, \u2018which song goes here?\u2019 and then we knew how action had to advance from there.\u201d<\/p>\n