Oscar-nominated ‘Chico & Rita:’ A tale of love and music
Directed by Fernando Trueba, Chico & Rita is nominated for Best Animated Feature at this Sunday’s Academy Awards. (Photo courtesy of Estudio Mariscal)
By AMARIS CASTILLO
Channel: Entertainment
It’s a tale of obstructed love – permeated by music.
That’s one way to describe Chico & Rita, an animated film helmed by Spanish director Fernando Trueba. The film, also a result of Trueba’s collaboration with designer/illustrator (and compatriot) Javier Mariscal, is up for Best Animated Feature at this Sunday’s 84th Annual Academy Awards. Chico & Rita is pitted against some of last year’s favorites for the coveted award, including Chris Miller’s computer-animated Puss in Boots and Jennifer Yuh Nelson’s Kung Fu Panda 2.
Chico & Rita follows two young Cubans after their lives collide in 1948 Cuba. While gallivanting with his manager and two American female tourists, talented pianist Chico (voiced by Eman Xor Oña), stumbles across the voice of Rita (voiced by Limara Meneses) at an outdoor club, where the gorgeous singer performs “Besame Mucho.”
Once Chico hears Rita’s sultry vocals, he instantly knows she’s “The One.”
After a night of passionate sex (note: there’s some nudity in the film, it’s animated, but nudity nonetheless), Rita awakens to find out that Chico already has a girlfriend. The film doesn’t shy away from profanity but, rather, welcomes it. Chico’s girlfriend and Rita get into a very physical fight, accompanied by the angry lilt of Cuban curse words. This blowup, as well as other plot twists in the film, keeps the couple apart as Rita’s career brings her from New York to the glamour of Hollywood. Chico (whose occupation as a musician is much more modest than Rita’s, but nonetheless crosses with hers on several occasions) is eventually deported back to Cuba, right when Castro’s revolution takes hold of the island nation.
Besides the beautiful roundness of the film’s animation, viewers are also able to see an extremely detailed Cuba, due to Mariscal’s research trip before drawing the film.
The end of Chico & Rita brings the greying couple back together once again, after decades apart.
“I’ve been waiting 47 years for you,” a smiling Rita tells a wrinkled Chico when he finds her at the door of her Las Vegas motel room, where she is now a housekeeper.
Aside from the film’s turbulent love story, the most appealing trait about Chico & Rita is its musical spine. At times, the score tells us more about the film than the narrative and characters do combined. With music by the late musicians Woody Herman, Tito Puente, and Dizzy Gillespie, Chico & Rita is a look back at the rich history of jazz.
The film’s soundtrack is by legendary Cuban pianist/composer (and five-time Grammy winning) Bebo Valdés, who also records for Trueba’s Calle 54 Records. It feels as though music fills up every square inch of the film.
Will Chico & Rita take home the coveted statuette on Sunday? Should it win, the Oscar award won’t be the first for the seasoned Trueba, who earned a trophy in 1994 for his unforgettable film Belle Époque.
Chico & Rita is in theaters in New York, San Francisco (among other big cities) and is expanding nationally to other cities throughout February, March and April.
