EL CANTANTE celebrates the life and music
of the legendary Puerto Rican salsa singer Héctor Lavoe, a
pioneer of the sound and sensibility that redefined Latin
music in the 1960s and
1970s. Directed by Leon Ichaso, the film is a labor of love
for its stars, Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez, who are both
New Yorkers of Puerto Rican descent. Shepherded to the
screen
and produced by Lopez, EL CANTANTE portrays an era when a
new sense of national identity and pride took root in Puerto
Rican communities across the U.S. Héctor Lavoe’s music was
both a soundtrack to and affirmation of that awakening, and
that music courses joyfully through EL CANTANTE.
Spanning the 1960s to the 1980s, EL CANTANTE charts Héctor
Lavoe’s rapid rise to success and fame as an artist whose
music combined Puerto Rican tradition with streetwise
modernity, unabashed emotion with straightforward realism.
It reveals the singer not only as an architect of salsa but
as its soul; the kind of artist, like Billie Holliday, Edith
Piaf or La Lupe, who forges an uncanny emotional bond with
his audience. Love, pain, joy, pride, sorrow, endurance:
Héctor Lavoe’s singing contained the raw stuff of life as
ordinary people — and he himself — knew it. As Héctor Lavoe,
Anthony mines the contradictory essence of a gifted man who
could
express anything with his music, but channeled his inner
turmoil into a host of self-destructive behaviors. Anthony’s
intensity and honesty is matched by that of Lopez, who
portrays Héctor Lavoe’s indomitable wife, Puchi. In their
first onscreen pairing, the real-life couple captures the
complex dynamics of a relationship between two bright, funny
and flawed human beings who loved, battled and forgave one
another for twenty years, until Héctor Lavoe’s death in
1993.
As a young man in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Héctor (Marc Anthony)
is already steeped in music, having grown up with a father (Ismael
Miranda) who plays guitar in local orchestras. While his
father envisions him joining an orchestra in Ponce, Héctor
dreams of a singing career in New York City. But Héctor’s
decision to pursue that dream causes a profound rift his
father, a rejection that will haunt Héctor in the years to
come.
Arriving in New York in 1963, Héctor finds a thriving music
scene in the city’s Latino
neighborhoods. Energetic, modishly dressed groups of young
people crowd the clubs where live bands play rumba, mambo,
plena, son, merengue and other types of Latin music. Héctor
soon becomes part of that scene as a singer with various
bands, and draws the attention of Johnny Pacheco (Nelson
Vasquez), a Dominican bandleader and one of Latin music’s
biggest stars. Johnny introduces Héctor to Willie Colon
(John Ortiz), an up-and-coming trombonist and bandleader in
search of a singer. Together, the two musicians embody the
dual nature of New York’s Puerto Rican community: Héctor,
the Puerto Rican native who grew up speaking Spanish;
and Willie, the New York Puerto Rican, or Nuyorican, who
grew up speaking English in the Bronx. Equally important,
Héctor and Willie are part of a younger generation that is
attuned not only to traditional Puerto Rican styles but also
to rock, jazz and R&B. The music they make will be a product
of those ingredients, like a sauce: salsa.
As Héctor’s career blossoms, so, too, does his personal
life. Smitten virtually upon his arrival in New York by a
beautiful, lively club-goer, Puchi (Jennifer Lopez), Héctor
turns up uninvited at her birthday party. But the boldness
of the gesture stands in contrast to his sweet, polite
demeanor and Puchi, who recognizes Héctor from his
performances, is intrigued. A sly, teasing flirtation grows
deeper as the hours go on, and a romance begins in earnest.
Meanwhile, Héctor is being groomed for stardom. He signs a
contract with Fania Records, a new label founded by Johnny
Pacheco and Jerry Masucci (Federico Castelluccio) as a
Motown for the Latino community and its music. But before
Héctor can hit the recording studio as a vocalist
with the Willie Colon Orquestra, his last name, the
extremely common Perez, will have to go. And so he is
rechristened Héctor Lavoe, a play on “la voix,” the French
translation of “the voice.”
The singing career that Héctor envisioned as a young man in
Ponce is about to materialize. Beginning in 1967, Héctor and
Willie release a succession of LPs that are the foundations
of salsa, with Héctor’s voice soaring over percolating brass
and percussion on records including El Malo (The Bad Guy)
and Cosa Nuestra (Our Thing). There are sellout tours,
festivals and outdoor events that reflect the heady,
psychedelic spirit of the times. Concerts are jubilant
extravaganzas that find Héctor in his element, often with
Puchi dancing by the side of the stage. In Puerto Rico,
throngs turn out to welcome their beloved hero. By the early
1970s, salsa has conquered the streets of New York and
cities around the world, and Héctor Lavoe is its voice.
But success is not the uncomplicated boon the young Héctor
might have envisioned, and the emotions so easily expressed
in music are harder voiced in everyday existence. Héctor’s
initial wariness of drugs and alcohol gives way to excess
and addiction, and he tests Puchi’s loyalty before and after
their marriage with numerous affairs. The mid-1980s will
bring more heartbreak: the accidental shooting death of
their son, Tito; the death of Héctor’s father and the murder
of Puchi’s mother; Héctor’s positive diagnosis for AIDS. But
the marriage survives.
Along with music, Puchi is the constant in Héctor’s life.
Their relationship is as full of tender, unguarded moments —
jokes shared in an empty arena after a concert, a fully
clothed Héctor joining his wife in the bathtub — as it is
heated arguments.
Throughout good times and bad, Héctor continues to give his
all to his music. His fans forgive him his failings, cheer
his successes and mourn his tragedies. His voice has become
their voice. One night in 1977, the young musician named
Ruben Blades (Victor Manuelle) introduces a song he has
written specifically for Héctor, performing it once before
turning it over to his idol. That song becomes Héctor’s
signature, a naked statement of who he is: “El Cantante”
(“The Singer”).
©2007
Picture House. All rights reserved.
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People Movie Review El Cantante
|
55AAA |
90 |
|
A moving film with heart felt acting by
both Anthony and Lopez. Sad but true of
so many artist during a time of
greatness slapped by drugs. Music is
100%. |
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