The Lost City - C+

Andy Garcia's directorial debut could've flown as a sad story about the loss of a beautiful way of life in the turmoil of the Cuban revolution. Unfortunately a lack of focus on key plot points and a fairly flat retelling of the revolution makes this one a two and a half hour yawner.

The beginning is promising with images of a close family whose ideologies are starting to create division. Garcia is as cool as ever as Fico, the owner of a famous Cuban nightclub called the El Tropico. The cabaret scenes are excellent, which brings me to the movie's only interesting thing - the music. whoever put together the soundtrack really outdid himself with jazzy latin numbers and colorful singers. Unfortunately, Garcia doesn't really come across as a very musical guy, he professes to love the music, but he doesn't really sell it...but that's just nitpicking. The movie starts to go downhill with (oddly enough) the introduction of Bill Murray as a mysterious comedian at the club. Murray's character is perplexing, he never says his name, you never really find out what he does (he never performs, he just hangs out) and you are left to wonder just what in the world his purpose is. He serves as dippy comic relief in some scenes, and as a wry voice of truth in others, but he is never a real person. It really makes you wonder what kind of character Garcia originally had in mind when Bill Murray probably unexpectedly showed interest and got the part just because he's Bill Murray. Unfortunately, because he's Bill Murray that's all he is, and his lines were obviously improved because they don't make any sense with the rest of the script. Dustin Hoffman is equally unneccessary in a bit part as a mob leader looking to take over the nightclub. He appears once at the beginning and at the end, and if you see the movie you'll understand why his character is such a spare.

The story progresses as the family is torn apart by the political upheaval, with sons becoming involved and such. After Fico's brother dies in the revolution, Fico begins a romance with Aurora his widowed wife, a major plot point that is pretty much simmered down into a montage. It's like, they're friends - (several fadeout shots later) - they're in love! I hate that kind of watered down character development that is as lazy as it is ineffective. However, they do have to move the story along, which is (ironically) what Garcia does worst. Too long Andy, too long. There are scores of unneccessary scenes of a brooding Fico or a brooding (insert any other character besides Bill Murray's). There was a lot of brooding going on. Stylistically, Garcia does some cool stuff at the beginning with a well spliced storming the presidential palace/nightclub dance sequence. Fortunately, there is some good support acting. Tomas Millian and Richard Bradford are great ats the two heads of the Fellove household, and Julio Oscar Mechoso is great as a menacing Colonel Candela. Jsu Garcia looks the part as Che Guevarra, but his performance is pretty simplistic. As afore mentioned, the main characters do a lot of brooding and fake crying (you know how actors can cry without sobbing, random tears just drop out). It's too bad that this is what the main characters boil down to. Later in the film, Fico's new love is eventually disrupted, because Aurora goes and hobnobs with the revolutionaries and becomes involved in the government. This was completely unbelievable, she was given absolutely no reason to leave suave, cool Andy Garcia for a gang of scruffy commies. Her changeover is too quick and doesn't make sense, making the parting less bittersweet and more " oh come on" moments.

It's also frustrating when it's so obvious that Garcia wanted this movie to portray Cuba as a paradise lost, but he just didn't show enough of Havana for it to be enticing or even realistic. The movie was incredibly claustrophobic, switching between intimate scenes in rooms or clubs and limited exterior shots that show very little of the landscape. Cuba just didn't feel real. All of the culture scenes are the ones that involve the cabaret, which is something of a false environment.
Bottom line, many undeveloped elements are lost in this war drama. If anything it serves as a reminder of how much communism sucks, despite what's hip right now.