Critic Reviews
Before Night Falls (2000) Rank 3 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (152) reviews
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San Francisco Chronicle (Edward Guthmann)
San Francisco Chronicle (Ruthe Stein)
San Francisco Chronicle (Edward Guthmann)
In "Before Night Falls," Spanish actor Javier Bardem gives a magnificent performance as Reinaldo Arenas, a Cuban poet and novelist who emigrated tothe United States on the Mariel boat lift of 1980 and died 10 years later.
It's a hell of a part for an ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at San Francisco Chronicle (Edward Guthmann)
Dallas Observer (David Ehrenstein)
Arenas' story is a downer that doesn't produce despair. That's because of the exceptional bravery of Arenas himself, and the understanding that both Schnabel and his extraordinary leading man, Javier Bardem, have of him, his world, and his time. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Dallas Observer (David Ehrenstein)
Salon.com (Charles Taylor)
As good as it is, Before Night Falls might not work if Schnabel hadn't found a leading man to hold it together and the Spanish actor Javier Bardem has the understated charisma to pull it off. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Salon.com (Charles Taylor)
Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
Anchored by a charismatic and accessible performance by Javier Bardem as star-crossed Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, this florid examination of an artist's coming of age, of cultures in collusion and conflict, is difficult to resist. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
Empire Magazine (--)
The New York Times (Stephen Holden)
Like a deathbed dream it leapfrogs through Arenas's life, reconstructing crucial moments as a succession of bright, feverish illuminations. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at The New York Times (Stephen Holden)
TV Guide (Ken Fox)
Bardem's performance is simply shattering. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at TV Guide (Ken Fox)
Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
Redolent of atmosphere and rapturously cinematic, Before Night Falls has a gift for creating visual mood that's so strong you'd swear it couldn't last -- but you'd be wrong. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Los Angeles Times (Kenneth Turan)
TV Guide's Movie Guide (Ken Fox)
Bardem's performance is simply shattering. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (Ken Fox)
New York Times (Stephen Holden)
If Before Night Falls doesn't give us Arenas's life as he actually experienced it, it offers penetrating glimpses into his life as he may have dreamed it. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at New York Times (Stephen Holden)
DVD Authority.com (Matt Brighton)
UTK Daily Beacon (Ryan Freeman)
JoBlo's Movie Emporium reviews "Before Night Falls"
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Before Night Falls received its world premiere at the 2000 Venice Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival. It was lauded with critical praise at both venues (in large part, I think, because critics ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
mazzyboi's movie page (Angelo Aquino)
ViewLondon (Matthew Turner)
Three stars out of fiveHighly artistic biopic from artist-turned-director Julian Schnabel, featuring a magnificent performance by Bardem.New York artist-turned-director Julian Schnabel’s previous film was Basquiat – another film about the life of an ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at ViewLondon (Matthew Turner)
Detroit News (Susan Stark)
SPLICEDwire (Rob Blackwelder)
Movie Habit (Marty Mapes)
But Before Night Falls has some great qualities. Bardem gives an outstanding performance as Arenas (he was nominated for the best actor Oscar). Schnabel's portrait of the writer is interesting and insightful. The depiction of Cuba is rare and revealing. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Movie Habit (Marty Mapes)
The UK Critic (Ian Waldron-Mantgani)
Movies are more likely to reach kids than Solzenitsyn novels, so "Before Night Falls" should be shown to all those pretentious bourgeois youngsters who go round in Castro and Guevara shirts, thinking it's smart to glorify the paraphernalia of old-school ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at The UK Critic (Ian Waldron-Mantgani)
Sun Newspapers of Cleveland
"Before Night Falls" is the lyric memoir of Cuban author and exile Reinaldo Arenas. The book's translation to screen is a sometimes hard-edged yet ultimately touching rendering, bolstered by the strong performance of Spanish star Javier Bardem. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Sun Newspapers of Cleveland
Reel.com
Portraying the life of an artist whose method is the written word is very difficult. Other modes of expression are far easier to represent visually and can allow the filmmaker to more successfully connect the audience with the main character's internal ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Reel.com
ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
It should come as no surprise that, for his second outing behind the camera, Julian Schnabel has once again turned his attention towards an artist (Schnabel's debut was 1996's Basquiat). For the director, who is world-renowned for his painting, the appeal ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at ReelViews (James Berardinelli)
Globe and Mail (--)
Palo Alto Weekly (Susan Tavernetti)
Greg's Previews at Yahoo! Movies (Greg Dean Schmitz)
A valuable film because it tells a tale of Cuban struggle and hardship of a type that we surprisingly don't see that often in film. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Greg's Previews at Yahoo! Movies (Greg Dean Schmitz)
Lawrence Journal-World (Dan Lybarger)
Schnabel can take on an apparently spent genre like the biopic and produce a pair of films that ooze vitality as they give their subjects a much needed celebration. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Lawrence Journal-World (Dan Lybarger)
Film Written Magazine (Jaime N. Christley)
It has the concentration of a novel, the rhythms of a poem, and the beauty of a series of full-color photographs. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Film Written Magazine (Jaime N. Christley)
ToxicUniverse.com (John Nesbit)
Overall, Before Night Falls is worthwhile. It may be uneven in parts and seems anticlimactic during the latter ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at ToxicUniverse.com (John Nesbit)
Moviola (Jorge Avila Andrade)
Sencillamente, una de las mejores y más emotivas cintas del año ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Moviola (Jorge Avila Andrade)
Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
Julian Schnabel ( "Basquiat" ), the artist turned filmmaker, adapted the 1993 posthumously written autobiographical memoir of gay Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas whose difficult life is painted in quick glimpses of his desperate but unfulfilled ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
Palo Alto Online (Susan Tavernetti)
A scene from The Alamo.The independence of Texas is an American legend. The Texan/Tejano stand-off, bloodily disputed and ultimately won at the Alamo in San Antonio, is the stuff of cinematic dreams. Disney-esque cinematic dreams, that is. The Alamo is ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Palo Alto Online (Susan Tavernetti)
Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
Politics and humanism find an engrossing balance in this ambitious drama based on the life of Reinaldo Arenas, a gay Cuban poet who was persecuted by the homophobic Castro regime. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Christian Science Monitor (David Sterritt)
New York Daily News (Jack Mathews)
A personal eulogy, from one artist to another, and an indictment of all systems of government that deny people the right to free expression and the full realization of their talent. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at New York Daily News (Jack Mathews)
Entertainment Insiders (Stephen Wong)
WHSmith.co.uk review
MovieFreak.com (Dennis Landmann)
Movie-Vault.com (David Trier)
artechock (Svenja Alsmann)
digitallyOBSESSED.com (Daniel Hirshleifer)
CineScene.com (Les Phillips)
CultureDose.net (John Nesbit)
DVD Town (Henning Molbaek)
DVD Net (Terry Kemp)
Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)
An impressive piece of filmmaking, with lively and suggestive depictions of pre- and postrevolutionary Cuba (shot in Mexico). ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)
Rovin' and Ravin' with Mike
CineScene.com (Chris Dashiell)
Screen It! Entertainment Reviews for Parents
The Cranky Critic (Chuck Schwartz)
PopMatters (Lucas Hilderbrand)
Matinee Magazine (Joe McGovern)
The picture is ultimately an indulgent bore, admirable yet ineffective. ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Matinee Magazine (Joe McGovern)
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Montreal Film Journal (Kevin N. Laforest)
Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)
Reel.com (Rod Armstrong)
Reel.com DVD review (Pam Grady)
Cozzi fan Tutti Celluloid Musings (Jill Cozzi)
Mixed Reviews: The Arts, The World, and More (Gabriel Shanks)
Films on Disc (Stuart J. Kobak)
Cinemaphile.org (David Keyes)
Shadows on the Wall (Rich Cline)
Dave's Other Movie Log Review
eye WEEKLY (Jason Anderson)
World Socialist Web Site
Entertainment Insiders (Stephen Wong)
Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
This touching screen adaptation of the autobiography of gay Cuban novelist and poet Reinaldo Arenas convincingly shows how freedom is the air that writers must breathe in order to fully express their creative souls. That, of course, is also the theme in ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Spirituality & Health (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)
Philadelphia City Paper (Cindy Fuchs)
Christian Spotlight on the Movies
Reeling Reviews (Robin and Laura Clifford)
hybridmagazine.com
The Squiz: Cine Philes ("Guido Mezzabotta")
Flak Magazine (Sara J. Brenneis)
iofilm.co.uk
And so filmmakers rely on the life, rather than the work, to illustrate artistic expression. Reinaldo Arenas's life was extreme. Born into poverty in Cuba during the bad old days, he spent his early years, surrounded by women, way off in the country. He ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at iofilm.co.uk
Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)
filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
Is there a rule that all biopics must begin at birth and end at death? Death I can understand, but the actions of a three-month old just don't seem of much relevance to any story, regardless of how important the subject is.
Alas, the subject of Before ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
James Sanford On Film
Kino (Alessandro Bencivenni)
Jigsaw Lounge (Neil Young)
Guide To Current DVD: Before Night Falls
Director and artist Julian Schnabel presented audiences with his second picture in 2000, "Before Night Falls", a dream-like look at the life of famed Cuban poet Renaldo Arenas, who remained an outcast in his society because he was gay and a writer. The ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Guide To Current DVD: Before Night Falls
New York Post (Lou Lumenick)
Film Threat, Hollywood's Indie Voice
Reinaldo Arenas was a gay Cuban poet, and given the harsh government in Cuba, he was severely persecuted for those other two labels. There's nothing in that statement that couldn't be offered in a footnote in a history book, yet those facts are all you ...read the complete Before Night Falls movie review at Film Threat, Hollywood's Indie Voice
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