Little Ashes

I’m a sucker for Biopics, so I was really looking forward to Little Ashes, which tells the story of artist Salvador Dali, writer Federico Garcia Lorca, and filmmaker, Luis Bunuel. These three young men met in college in 1922 in Madrid, Spain. Up until this time, the military and the church ruled Spain and the country was very conservative, but outside influences were creeping in, and the Jazz Age had arrived. This trio of creative, radical, minds worked together to break down conventions, and change the world through their art.

I found this film very uneven. It was beautiful to look at, but some of the camera shots were pretentious. The primary musical theme was very engaging, yet the score was inconsistent and sometimes it over-powered the scene. The performances were good. Robert Pattison had the difficult job of displaying Dali’s eccentric behavior while still keeping the character real. I also found Matthew McNulty, as Federico Garcia Lorca very touching and the most soulful of the trio.

Since I never took Art History in school, I asked my friend Lance to go with me. As a professional artist and teacher, I was relying on him to fill in the details. I felt a little better about myself when he admitted he had never heard of Luis Bunuel either. I have some vague memory of hearing something about slicing eyeballs in film class, but the memory is very weak and that was a long time ago. The film itself doesn’t do enough to fill in the gaps.

Lance and I were both under-whelmed by Little Ashes. The things we found the most interesting, they touched on and left, whereas other less crucial areas were covered in depth. We both noticed that there were very few examples of Dali’s art and we thought that was rather odd. Part of the fun of Biopics is surveying the subject’s works. Whether it is music, art, literature, sports, or public service, you want to be reminded why these people were considered to be so successful. I do want to learn more about Dali though, and that is always a good sign. When a Biopic whets your appetite, you want to go on and expand your knowledge. Maybe I should take Art History.

Rating: Bargain Matinee Interesting, but underwhelming