Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.0

The Lost City Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 6, 2008

A project that took more than sixteen years to complete, Andy Garcia’s "The Lost City" (2005) has divided critics and viewers in a manner that is as controversial as the actual film. Some claim it is the work of a genius with a heart overflowing with love for his homeland, others believe that it could have been much more than what it is. Region-Free.

Fico Fellove in his beloved El Tropico

Fico Fellove (Andy Garcia), owner of the notorious El Tropico, has fallen in love with a beautiful woman (Ines Sastre). Business is booming, the night lights of Havana have never been brighter, life couldn’t be any better. But Castro’s rebels are slowly making their way to the capital and, according to some, it is only a matter of days before they reach it.

Forced to shut down El Tropico, the Fellove family faces a difficult decision - to endure the storm and live with the memories of a glorious past or leave Cuba and seek a better life abroad. Time is running out.

Fico Fellove (Andy Garcia), owner of the notorious El Tropico, has fallen in love with a beautiful woman (Ines Sastre). Business is booming, the night lights of Havana have never been brighter, life couldn’t be any better. But Castro’s rebels are slowly making their way to the capital and, according to some, it is only a matter of days before they reach it.

Forced to shut down El Tropico, the Fellove family faces a difficult decision - to endure the storm and live with the memories of a glorious past or leave Cuba and seek a better life abroad. Time is running out.

Nearly two years ago, I wrote a small review about Andy Garcia’s The Lost City where I made it clear that I was not particularly impressed by the film’s technical presentation. I felt that even though its message was sincere and moving, the manner in which the story was told was anything but convincing. It was notably inconsistent, lacking the cohesiveness such an expansive project needs, and poorly edited. Two years later, my opinion on The Lost City remains largely unchanged.

There is probably a lot that could be said about this film and be quickly dismissed by those who feel that there are themes and emotions here a non-Cuban American will have a difficult time grasping. It is perhaps so, but, there is also a lot in The Lost City that simply isn’t what great films are made of.

Based on Cuban writer and political exile Guillermo Cabrera Infante’s screenplay, The Lost City tells us about the gradual collapse of the Fellove family as Castro’s rebels take control over Havana. Love, patriotism, and love are the three key themes here with each effectively culminating into an effective dismissal of a political regime that forced many Cubans to leave their homeland in 1959. Not surprisingly, the film has resonated strongly with the Cuban-American community in the United States.

This being said, however, The Lost City is hardly the epic many wanted it to be. It is raw, unpolished, and at times badly edited. The numerous historical references to Batista, Castro, and Che, for example, leave plenty to be desired. They also feel notably unrealistic (Che’s indirect dismissal as a political figure of importance in particular). Furthermore, the sporadic encounters between Mayer Lansky and Fico Fellove are in obvious discord with how the rest of the film is structured.

Where The Lost City really hits a sour note, however, is the inclusion of Bill Murray’s character, The Writer. I understand that there is an indirect relationship with Guillermo Cabrera Infante (The Writer apparently mimics the eccentric behavior the Cuban dissident was known for), but there are scenes in which Bill Murray’s lines are so out of place, they are actually funny; not the entertaining-funny type, rather, the how-did-these-get-here type of funny lines that border poor and wacky.

Clocking in at approximately 143 minutes, The Lost City certainly is difficult to endure. It is unnecessarily protracted, unfocused and overdone. The only bright spot in it is the phenomenal soundtrack composed by Andy Garcia where the colorful Cuban spirit truly comes alive. The final scene, for example, is filled with nostalgic overtones that will undoubtedly rekindle plenty of controversial feelings in those who still remember pre-Castro Cuba.

The Lost City Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (slightly cropped from its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1), encoded with MPEG-2 and granted a 1080p transfer, The Lost City appears on Blu-Ray courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

This was one of the distributor's earlier releases and while it is not disappointing it is certainly not an A-grade material either. The color-scheme is largely intact as the lush vistas from Havana's beaches are captured rather nicely – reds, yellows, blues, and greens are generally pleasing while the blacks appear solid enough (at least during the daylight scenes). There are some issues with the night-time scenes however. First of all the print does reveal a few tiny dust specks and oddly enough these are mostly obvious during the night-time scenes. Second, there is some notable inconsistency in the sharpness and detail that I must assume is an enhanced byproduct of the original print (The Lost City is a low-budget production). On the positive side during daylight scenes detail and clarity are at a satisfactory level. The rest of the basics are also intact and I did not detect any major issues that needed to be discussed here. To sum it all up Magnolia Pictures have provided a good transfer for The Lost City but I certainly would not place it next to some of their strongest efforts (The War Within, The World's Fastest Indian).

The Lost City Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three different audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English: PCM 5.1, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and English: Dolby Digital 5.1. None of them, however, is particularly pleasing. I opted for the PCM 5.1 track (and did experiment with the DTS-HD Master track as well) and while the mix certainly gets the job done it is nowhere as potent and expansive as I hoped it would be given the spectacular soundtrack The Lost City boasts. The trumpet solos in particular are not as sharp and ringing as one would expect them to be on a high-def disc. The gunshots on the other hand (the sugarcane field scene) were quite loud pointing to the fact that balance here isn't as carefully addressed as it should have been. The dialog is very easy to follow and I certainly did not detect any pop-ups, hissing, or cracks. This being said, I did experiment with the DTS-HD Master 5.1 mix as well (I specifically focused on the opening dance scene where Fico's family is in El Tropico as well as the dreamy sequence at the very end with the great trumpet solo) and to be honest could not detect any major differences between the two. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are provided for the main feature (English subs were not provided for the SDVD release).

The Lost City Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Just as the DVD release received a number of interesting supplemental materials so does the Blu-ray disc. First, there is a very short introduction by Andy Garcia where he reveals how important of a project The Lost City is to him. Next is an extended version of the "Making Of" found on the SDVD which follows the filming process in the Dominican Republic. In addition, there is a great deal of information here pertaining to the history of The Lost City (this is a project that was in the making for more than sixteen years) and a wealth of personal comments by Andy Garcia. There is a particularly entertaining description of Bill Muray's contribution as well. Indeed this massive interview-"making of" truly is a great opportunity to learn everything you wish to know about Andy Garcia's film as he goes into great detail addressing practically every facet of its production history. Next is "Bill Murray's: The Last Day" which is nothing more than a behind-the-scenes spoof of little substance, if any. Next is a small gallery of six deleted scenes that do not necessarily add anything of significant value. Next is a gallery of stills from the film as well as some poster art. "Notes From The Cast And Crew" offers a wealth of thoughts, recollections, and personal observations about The Lost City. As Andy Garcia points in the "Making Of" a lot of the cast and crew were either directly or indirectly affected by Castro's political takeover in 1959 and listening to their comments is quite fascinating. I must say, they most definitely put the film's message in a different perspective. Finally, there is a full-blown commentary by Andy Garcia, actor Nestor Carbonell, and production designer Waldemar Kalinowski where the three talk about the film and spend a great deal of time dissecting its some of its more important scenes.

Believe it or not the documentary I commented on earlier was the reason why I actually purchased this Blu-ray disc. It was highly recommended to me by a colleague of mine who contacted me after I wrote the review for the SDVD presentation of The Lost City a couple of years ago. Suffice to say, it is indeed one of the best interviews-documentaries I have listened to on recent films as it truly allows one to grasp the scope of this most personal project, what it meant to Andy Garcia, and what it means to many Cuban-Americans. In fact, with the risk of angering the creators of The Lost City I must admit that I find it to be much more enticing than the actual film. It is absolutely superb!

The Lost City Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A very, very personal for Andy Garcia project The Lost City is a film that has grown on me quite a bit since I first saw it in 2006. Still, I think that it has its fare share of issues that prevent it from being what many expected it to be. This being said, however, I am fairly certain that there is a lot in The Lost City that I, as a non-Cuban American, simply cannot grasp. As mentioned earlier I obtained this Blu-ray release precisely because I was told about the magnificent full-length interview by Andy Garcia and suffice to say I find it to be much more powerful and illuminating than the actual film is.