everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

it is special. for Bardem performance. for dark Depp character. for the story about a writer and his stain cage. but, more important, for universal message. because it is not a film about a man in search of freedom. but picture of a world. our world. fragile, cruel, almost crazy. about prejudges as rules and law. about forms of fall in crime womb. about solitude of a poet who becomes victim of others fear. about a land who may be Cuba or each other country of steel oppression. so, the lines of Arenas sounds more than pieces of good poetry.but like windows to delicate manner to discover and present life. as trips in heart of essence of each existence. it is not a gay movie. only frame for a lot of questions, for a profound answer.

Visual artist Julian Schnabel was the perfect choice for bringing to the screen the richly colorful life and times of Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas (1943-1990). BEFORE NIGHT FALLS began as a book, Arenas' memoir, translated and released in 1993: time has aged the eloquence of this memoir but has not marred the impact of the brilliance of the writing. Arenas wrote with a degree of truth and keen observation that makes his moments of antics with his characters like comic relief in a Shakespearean play. The screenplay was written by Lázaro Gómez Carriles, Cunningham O'Keefe and Julian Schnabel who with great homage to Arenas made his life as narrated by Arenas, in an inextricable mix of his memories, dreams, nightmares and pure fiction. He grew up as poor, naked illegitimate child, joined Castro's Cuban revolution and became an intellectual, employed in the public library. After discovering his gay sexuality, he soon shares in the regime's inconsistent persecution. His work and life become dominated by the mix of temptation, fear, betrayal and man hunting in both senses. Finally he makes it to Manhattan, only to get caught in another trap for which there is only one tragic escape in the end - his death from AIDS.Arenas had a gift of distilling Magical Realism, transforming even the radical ugliness of Castro's Cuba into the topical paradise so beloved by Cubans everywhere. This cinematic version lets the viewer experience that rich literary output of one of the most exciting writers of the last century. For example, 'Walking along streets that collapse from crumbling sewers. Past buildings that you jump to avoid because they will fall on you. Past grim faces that size you up and sentence you. Past closed shops, closed markets, closed cinemas, closed parks, closed cafés. Sometimes showing dusty signs, justifications: "CLOSED FOR RENOVATION," "CLOSED FOR REPAIRS." What kind of repairs? When will these so-called renovations be finished? When at last will they begin? Closed... closed... closed... everything closed. I arrive, open the countless padlocks and run up the temporary stairs. There she is, waiting for me. I pull off the cover, and stare at her dusty, cold shape I clean of the dust and caress her. With my hand, delicately, I wipe clean her back, her base and her sides. In front of her, I feel desperate and happy. I run my fingers over her keyboard and suddenly it all starts up. With a tinkling sound the music begins, little by little, then faster; now full speed. Walls, trees, streets, cathedrals, faces and beaches. Cells, mini- cells, huge cells. Starry nights, bare feet, pines, clouds. Hundreds, thousands, millions of parrots. A stool, a climbing plant, they all answer my call, all come to me. The walls recede, the roof vanishes, and you float quite naturally. You float uprooted, dragged off, lifted high. Transported, immortalized, saved. Thanks to that subtle, continuous rhythm, that music, that incessant tap-tap.'Javier Bardem completely inhabits the poet that was Arenas - a performance so delicately nuanced that it remains one of the great moments in cinema. He is ably supported by Olivier Martinez as Lázaro Gómez Carriles, and incidental roles by Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Diego Luna, Jerzy Skolimowski, Hector Babenco and a host of other fine actors. This is one of those films that remains a standard of the industry and certainly Javier Bardem will never be forgotten for his inhabiting the essence of what made Reinaldo Arenas a great writer. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp

This is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. Julian Schnabel has a superb visual sense, evident from the very first scene of the dense tropical forest with voice-over narration. At every moment, Schnabel's visual poetry accentuates, compliments, illustrates the poetic life of Arenas. While he gives the story room to breathe, he never abandons the narrative thread which takes keeps us involved from beginning to end.The core of the film is in Javier Bardem's wonderfully charismatic performance of the censored Cuban poet and novelist Renaldo Arenas. If one compares this performance with his others (e.g. "The Sea Inside" and "No Country for Old Men,") it is hard not to conclude that he is one of the very best actors working today.The film is a ruthless look at the abuses inflicted upon art in totalitarian regimes. Arenas is persecuted because he is gay, but chiefly because he is an artist who refuses to compromise his ideals or stop writing. His story is inspirational, and it is a great testament to Schnabel that he was able to make a film that makes such a strong artistic statement of its own, but compliments and accentuates Arenas's story, rather than overwhelming it.A masterpiece.

The true story of homosexual Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas (Javier Bardem) the film charts his eventful and troubled life attempting to do what he loves best in a 1960's Cuba where the regime brand him a counter revolutionary and traitor. Starting from his humble beginnings in a small village, his later life in the city where he befriends other homosexuals, writers and poets which leads to imprisonment and torture to the last part of his life in New York.Javier Bardem is believable and excellent in the lead, Johnny Depp is also very competent in his dual roles and Sean Penn makes a decent cameo appearance. The cinematography is top notch, direction impeccable and score complements each scene well making them atmospheric and moving. Throughout we hear snippets of the writers poetry and musings which add to the emotionally charged nature of the film. A tender and well shot story of an important figure in Cuban literature, well worth seeing.