Biutiful

Name: Biutiful
Genre: Drama
Released: December 29, 2010
Duration: 147 min
Rating: 58
Cast: Javier Bardem

2010

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Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 112 Ratings

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7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 112 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Liddell Entertainment | Release Date: December 29, 2010 | R

Starring: Javier Bardem

Summary: Academy Award winner Javier Bardem plays a man on the wrong side of the law who struggles to provide for his children on the dangerous streets of Barcelona. The latest film from Academy Award nominee Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Biutiful won the award for Best Actor at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and is sure to be one of the mostAcademy Award winner Javier Bardem plays a man on the wrong side of the law who struggles to provide for his children on the dangerous streets of Barcelona. The latest film from Academy Award nominee Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Biutiful won the award for Best Actor at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and is sure to be one of the most talked-about films of the year.(Roadside Attractions)… Expand

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 147 min

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Awards & Rankings

100	#100 Most Shared Movie of 2010

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Critic Reviews

Kirk Honeycutt

Dec 30, 2010

Biutiful has a strong, linear narrative drive. Nevertheless, and most of all, it's a gorgeous, melancholy tone poem about love, fatherhood and guilt. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

Jan 27, 2011

It's Bardem's portrayal of his search for those answers that drives Biutiful forward. Read full review

Sean O'Connell

Jan 28, 2011

Biutiful soars to its highest points once it shifts its focus away from death to ask us how we are choosing to live our lives. Read full review

Joe Williams

Feb 3, 2011

The saving grace of Biutiful is Bardem. Read full review

Joe Neumaier

Dec 29, 2010

Here, it's all Bardem, and this great actor's careworn face and sensitive presence counts for a lot. He ultimately can't save the soul of Biutiful, but he makes the journey easier. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Jan 29, 2011

Iñárritu does the actor no favors by putting him through the existential wringer every step of the way. Uxbal suffers for all our sins. Read full review

Melissa Anderson

Dec 28, 2010

Though its structure may be whittled down in comparison with the earlier works, Biutiful is even more morbidly obese than "Babel" in terms of soggy ideas, elephantine with miserabilist humanism and redemption jibber-jabber. Read full review

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User Reviews

Mrtruegrit2288

Feb 12, 2012

The film is painful there's no doubt about about that but Inarritu's genius is it's ability to captivate, to grab on and not let go and to make you feel every moment of pain desperation. The cast is flawless, and Bardem is without a doubt, the single greatest actor that Spain has produced .

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Belmsher

Sep 12, 2011

Bardem's performance is ABSOLUTELY haunting and that is more than enough to rate this 10. Another highlight: it shows a side of Barcelona most of the people who visit the city never thought of.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

MattBrady99

Jul 5, 2017

"Look in my eyes. Look at my face. Remember me, please. Don't forget me, Ana. Don't forget me, my love, please."

I really don't get how everyone says this and "Babel" are Iñárritu worst movies. I don't get it. This movie was so beautiful in every sense of the word. Sad, but real. Can I"Look in my eyes. Look at my face. Remember me, please. Don't forget me, Ana. Don't forget me, my love, please."

I really don't get how everyone says this and "Babel" are Iñárritu worst movies. I don't get it. This movie was so beautiful in every sense of the word. Sad, but real.

Can I just say how brilliant of an actor Javier Bardem is. It's nothing new, but it begs repeating, and here it absolutely dose. Without spoiling anything, but the scene between him and his daughter was one of the most moving and human things I've ever seen. It was hard to watch for the right reasons. Facial expressions alone with barley any dialogue spoken, you as an audience member feel and understand him without seeing the whole picture.

"Biutiful" is another fantastic movie from my favorite living director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Having this spiritual atmosphere to it, which is a trademark in all of he's movies; the beginning and the end are example of such. The score from Gustavo Santaolalla was great and really added to the surreal experience I've had with this movie. The mixture of beautiful cinematography, score, and the performances, made this even more melancholic.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

lasttimeisaw

Jan 5, 2014

I have been an advocate of Iñárritu’s works continuously, AMORES PERROS (2000, 8/10), 21 GRAMS (2003, 9/10) and BABEL (2006, 8/10), but his fourth feature length BIUTIFUL has been evading my watchlist hitherto, maybe it is its dour outlook intimidates me, although Bardem grabbed a preciousI have been an advocate of Iñárritu’s works continuously, AMORES PERROS (2000, 8/10), 21 GRAMS (2003, 9/10) and BABEL (2006, 8/10), but his fourth feature length BIUTIFUL has been evading my watchlist hitherto, maybe it is its dour outlook intimidates me, although Bardem grabbed a precious BEST LEADING ACTOR nomination in a foreign language picture.

But today, I’m in an indomitable mood (thanks to my sanguine nature) so I dare to take the challenge. BIUTIFUL, the intentional spelling error rings a bell of THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS (2006, 7/10), under the same default of a divorced father struggles to maintain the subsistence with his kid(s), the latter is a bullish and aspiring fairytale while the former treads the muddy water in the underground Barcelona, with an impending terminal cancer lurks on.

Uxbal (Bardem) lives a double life, he is a medium who earns money from eliciting the last words from the deceased, also he is involved in a furtive illegal immigrant labor business with a Chinese boss Hai (Chen). With two children to foster, as a single father, when he realizes his days are numbered, it is a clarion call to urge him to be prepared and don’t leave anything unfinished, which is also why the cancer sub-genre has its unique allure since it sets a date, motivates or even coerces the protagonists to take a look at theirs lives from a different angle, to slow down the pace and engage in an introspection like in TIME TO LEAVE (2005, 7/10) or to fulfill the bucket list like in MY LIFE WITHOUT ME (2003, 8/10), but here, Uxbal faces a much grimmer reality, everything will collapse, sometimes even in the most horrid way (an accidental carbon monoxide poisoning results in the casualties of two dozens Chinese immigrants all because he bought the cheapest heaters), his tentative attempt to leave two kids to his bipolar ex-wife Marambra (Álvarez) leads up to a blind alley and his brother Tito (Fernández) is a giant sleaze ball. With no other option, he leaves all his savings to an African immigrant Ige (Daff), who lives with them with her own infant boy, in dire hope he wishes she can take care of his offspring, but will she? Life cannot be more harder, so death could be his deliverance.

Bardem is so emotive as the jaded father, with his perpetual greasy hair, utterly riveting in meting out the plight around him, particularly scenes with his two younglings, a dramatic turn from the deadpan and ruthless killer in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007, 9/10); theatrical actress Álvarez stuns in her film debut, a far more afflicted persona beyond redemption. Being a Chinese, it does pique my curiosity to see how a foreign director does with the Chinese gay characters in their films, but as a much diluted subplot here, shamefully it has been passed over with a vilifying perspective.

Iñárritu spins a Stygian recount of a very personal story, its often wobbly, frantic camera movements linger persistently in the seedy and cramped environs, attended by the otherworldly score from Gustavo Santaolalla, sometimes resorts to fright flick with the spectra materialize out of nowhere. Apparently my least favored film so far, its brooding nature and the one-sided linear narrative does deter the general audiences from emerging oneself to a sadcore once more.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Schizophreniac

Oct 18, 2013

I can give you 6 only for Javier Bardem. The other part of film and charecters are terrifed. Scenes and cameras are very bad to get something. Sometimes you can catch the wrong things and logical errors basicly with camera... Like I said Javier Bardem was the film's point here, this point isI can give you 6 only for Javier Bardem. The other part of film and charecters are terrifed. Scenes and cameras are very bad to get something. Sometimes you can catch the wrong things and logical errors basicly with camera... Like I said Javier Bardem was the film's point here, this point is not for film...… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TVJerry

Feb 27, 2011

The latest from director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel") is bleak and tragic. Javier Bardem plays a man in the mean streets of Barcelona who hustles to make money, struggles with his family and deals with his failing health. There's nothing warm or joyful here. Just hard times and darkThe latest from director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel") is bleak and tragic. Javier Bardem plays a man in the mean streets of Barcelona who hustles to make money, struggles with his family and deals with his failing health. There's nothing warm or joyful here. Just hard times and dark drama. It's well-made, complex and distressing, but lacking the emotional power to make it involving.… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

Humprt

Jun 5, 2011

Very very slow and monotone. If you want to feel depressed without a real purpose, try this movie. Visually not bad, overall, I see a missed opportunity.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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