''Before Night Falls'' is a 2000 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings"—with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been a ...

. The film is based on both the autobiography of the same name by Reinaldo Arenas—published in English in 1993—as well as Jana Boková's 1990 documentary ''Havana''. The screenplay was co-written by Schnabel, Lázaro Gómez Carriles and Cunningham O'Keefe. The film stars

Javier Bardem Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem (born 1 March 1969) is a Spanish actor. In a career spanning over three decades, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, tw ...

(his international film debut, and who was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Actor The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading ...

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Johnny Depp, multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for ...

, Olivier Martinez, Andrea Di Stefano, Santiago Magill and

Michael Wincott Michael Anthony Claudio Wincott (born January 21, 1958) is a Canadian actor. His deep, raspy voice has often led to his being cast in villainous roles. Some of his best-known roles include Guy of Gisbourne in '' Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'' ( ...

. The film had its world premiere at the 57th Venice International Film Festival.

Plot

In the film, Arenas is born in

Oriente Province Oriente (, "East") was the easternmost province of Cuba until 1976. The term "Oriente" is still used to refer to the eastern part of the country, which currently is divided into five different provinces. The origins of Oriente lie in the 1607 di ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

in 1943 and raised by his single mother and her parents, who soon move the entire family to

Holguín Holguín (, ) is a municipality-city in Cuba. After Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey, it is the List of cities in Cuba, fourth largest city in Cuba. History Before Christopher Columbus, Columbus, the Taino people settled in huts made fro ...

. After moving to

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

. After receiving an honorary mention in a writing contest, Arenas is offered the chance to publish his first work. Through his work and friendships with other openly gay men, like Pepe Malas and Tomas Diego, Arenas manages to find himself. The political climate in Cuba becomes increasingly dangerous, and in the early 1970s Arenas is arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting minors, and for publishing abroad without official consent. In the next decade, he is in and out of prison, attempting and failing to leave the country several times. In 1980, Arenas finally leaves Cuba for the United States, starting a new life with his close friend Lazaro Gomez Carriles. A few years later, Arenas is diagnosed with

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, and after spending several years suffering he dies in 1990.

Cast

as Reinaldo Arenas * Olivier Martinez as Lázaro Gómez Carriles *

as Bon Bon / Lt. Víctor *

Héctor Babenco Héctor Eduardo Babenco (February 7, 1946July 13, 2016) was an Argentine-Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who worked in several countries including Brazil, Argentina, and the United States. He was one of the first Braz ...

as Virgilio Piñera * Andrea Di Stefano as Pepe Malas * Santiago Magill as Tomás Diego *

John Ortiz John Augustin Ortiz (born May 23, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his antagonist role as Arturo Braga in '' Fast & Furious'' (2009) and ''Fast & Furious 6'' (2013), and Clyde in '' Jack Goes Boating'' (2010), which earned him a nom ...

as Juan Abreu * Manuel González as José Lezama Lima * Francisco Gattorno as Jorge Camacho * Marisol Padilla Sánchez as Margarita Camacho *

as Herberto Zorilla Ochoa * Pedro Armendáriz Jr. as Reinaldo's Grandfather *

Sean Penn Sean Justin Penn (born August 17, 1960) is an American actor and film director. He is known for his intense leading man roles in film. List of awards and nominations received by Sean Penn, His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Gl ...

as Cuco Sanchez * Najwa Nimri as Fina Zorilla Ochoa *

Diego Luna Diego Dionisio Luna Alexander (; born 29 December 1979) is a Mexican actor, director, and producer, best known for his portrayal of Cassian Andor in ''Rogue One, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016) and the Disney+ series ''Andor (TV series), ...

as Carlos * Cy and Olmo Schnabel as Reinaldo's classmates * Vito Maria Schnabel as Teenage Reinaldo * Lola Schnabel as Girl with keys * Stella Schnabel as Valeria * Jack and Esther G. Schnabel as Mr. and Mrs. Greenberg * Olatz López Garmendia as Mrs. Arenas

Production

got the idea of making ''Before Night Falls'' immediately after making '' Basquiat''; however, it took four years to actually produce the film. Bardem spent one-and-a-half months in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with Arenas's best friend, Lazaro Gomez Carriles, taking two hours a day to study how Arenas walked and talked.

Reception

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film has a 74% approval rating based on 101 reviews and an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's consensus states: "An impressionistic, fragmented look at Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls imagery manages to evoke a sense of the writer's artistry, and Bardem's strong performance holds the film together. Finally, a biopic done well."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

reports an 85 out of 100 rating based on 26 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film three and a half stars out of four, stating, "One is reminded a little of the

Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...

, as portrayed in '' Quills''. It was never simply what they wrote, but that, standing outside convention, taunting the authorities, inhabiting impossible lives, they wrote at all."

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born June 27, 1943) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film i ...

from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' awarded the film a full five out of five stars, writing, "In uniting to honor Arenas, Bardem and Schnabel create something extraordinary."

Box office

The film opened in eight venues on December 22, 2000, and earned $85,230 in its first weekend, ranking #34 in the North American box office. The film received a wide release on February 23, 2001. ''Before Night Falls'' grossed $4.2 million in the US and $4.3 million overseas for a worldwide total of $8.5 million from an estimated $20 million budget.

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control 2000 films 2000 romantic drama films 2000 LGBTQ-related films 2000 biographical drama films American biographical drama films American independent films American LGBTQ-related films American romantic drama films French-language American films 2000s Russian-language films Spanish-language American films Biographical films about writers Films about trans women Films based on autobiographies Films set in Cuba Films set in New York (state) Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Films set in the 1970s Films set in the 1980s Films shot in Mexico Films shot in New York (state) Venice Grand Jury Prize winners Films scored by Carter Burwell Films directed by Julian Schnabel Gay-related films Biographical films about poets 2000 independent films Films produced by Jon Kilik 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language biographical drama films English-language independent films English-language romantic drama films