After skipping right past 2009, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s much anticipated “Biutiful” starring Javier Bardem will finally be making its premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Now, on the eve of that very event, the first batch of images and a poster for the pic have been unveiled providing what ostensibly looks like a Bardem-dominant vehicle and character study.
The film’s first released synopsis further supports that notion with Bardem evidently playing Barcelona resident Uxbal who is, by the sounds of it, going through something of a mid-life crisis.
“Biutiful” is the story of Uxbal. Devoted father. Tormented lover. Mystified son. Underground businessman. Friend of the disposed. Ghost seeker. Spiritual sensitive. A survivor at the invisible margins in today’s Barcelona.
Uxbal, sensing the danger of death, tries to reconcile with love and save his children, as he tries to save himself. Uxbal’s story is simple: just one of the complex realities that we all live in today.
“Biutiful” is being produced by the Cha Cha Cha team of Guillermo Del Toro, Alfonso Cuaron and Iñárritu and, within the confines of the aforementioned synopsis, is also reportedly set to follow our protagonist’s illegal/shady dealings as he is confronted by his childhood friend who is now a policeman.
It’ll be the first film by Iñárritu without usual writing partner Guillermo Arriaga — the two famously fell out with the latter going to make “The Burning Plain” — with their divorce after “21 Grams” and “Babel” making for an interesting side note to this film’s release. One partnership retained by Iñárritu though, is that with two-time Academy Award-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla who’s also on board.
Co-starring in the film along side Bardem will be the likes of Rubén Ochandiano, Maricel Álvarez, Hanna Bouchaib, Diaryatou Daff, Guillermo Estrella, Eduard Fernandez, Luo Jin and Cheng Tai Shen. “Biutiful” premieres at Cannes on May 17th.