The Lost City

Starring: Andy Garcia, Ines Sastre, Tomas Milian, Richard Bradford, Nestor Carbonell, Dustin Hoffman, Bill MurrayDirected By: Andy GarciaWritten By: G. Cabrera InfanteRated RMagnolia Pictures

It is all too easy to criticize a film for being a vanity picture when it is produced, directed by and starring the same man. Filling the roles of the money, the camera and the central character in The Lost City, Andy Garcia is probably the biggest reason why the well-meaning Cuban historical epic fails as big as it does. A talented actor in so many projects, Garcia is spread too thin here.

Covering so much historical ground, it’s perfectly understandable that it would take some two and a half hours to get from the opening credits to film’s end. Why it has to spend so much of the intervening time gazing longingly into the well-dressed face of Andy Garcia is a bit of a mystery. The Lost City seems to cut to reaction shots of Andy Garcia even when he’s nowhere near the events to which he’s reacting. It doesn’t help that the events themselves are paced unevenly.

In front of the camera, Garcia plays Fico Fellove, owner of the Tropicana in Havana. The film follows Fico as he and his family are forced to deal with life under first Battista, then Castro before he leaves the country alone to start life over in New York. There’s a story buried somewhere among the musical montages and images of Andy Garcia reacting to things, but all too often it gets lost. Copiously padded by energetic traditional Cuban music and dance, The Lost City plays like a celebration of Cuban culture that uses history of the country as a backdrop.  This would be fine if the film would commit itself to being a cultural musical drama, but far too much effort is exhausted trying to tell Fico’s story to make it a satisfying film in any genre. Garcia doesn’t seem to notice. He’ too busy reacting in front of the camera and paying homage to Coppola behind it to notice that the sum total of his efforts feel vaguely farcical. Sadly, there is real potential in the drama of a story like this and Garcia would be excellent in the lead role if he wasn’t also directing.

There are other people in this film who put in occasionally impressive performances. Bill Murray plays a writer who becomes a close friend of Fico after trying to gain work at his club as a comedian. But aside from a few sterling moments, Murray’s demeanor conjures up pictures of someone off-camera pointing a gun at him while holding a cue card reading, “Be Funny” in bold, angry letters. The big opening scenes feature Dustin Hoffman as mob boss Meyer Lansky who has come to pressure Fico into running a gambling operation out of his nightclub. Perhaps the only way to mess up a scene between Hoffman, Murray and Garcia is to have Andy Garcia direct it. Everything feels just a little forced as camera, crew and set all wait around for magic that never really happens. It’s a feeling that permeates the entire film.  VS

Russ Bickerstaff is a local poet and writer. His poems can be heard regularly at Linneman's Monday Poetry Night.