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Dir. Paul Morrison

Rating: 4.9  |  0 User Reviews  |  Send to Friend

By Ashley Nguyen

This film was clearly made to be a complicated work of art. Shot on location in picturesque Spain, the film attempts to combine the untold love story between legendary painter Salvador Dalí and famed poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, with the intellectual movement surrounding the Spanish Civil War. It's alternatively successful, especially when passionate Federico (Javier Beltrán) graces the screen, fighting for freedom with his intense intellect; much less so when Dalí (Robert Pattison) who lives in his own, self-involved world, enters. The film begins as a young Salvador Dalí arrives at the Residentes de Estudiantes, a university in Madrid, to study art. Friendless, Dalí stays cuffed to his paintbrush, taking breaks only to window-peep at Federico. Befriended first by Luis Buñuel (Matthew McNulty), Dalí finds himself surrounded by a circle of artists and writers, including the reclusive Federico. Though confident (when Luis asks who’s genius he’s aspiring to, Dalí replies, “My own”), the young Dalí is awkward a-la the gay brother in Wedding Crashers, embarrassing outbursts and all. Somehow, Federico, a Catholic, finds the childish Dalí enchanting, praying to the Virgin Mary to help him “resist temptation.” Suffice it to say, the Virgin Mary does not pull through. After a brief game of cat and mouse, the two escape to Cadaqués to write and paint together, sharing their first kiss while floating in the sea. Twice, the two try to consummate their relationship, but both times Dalí pulls away, haunted by voices screaming in his head. Federico, ever the gentleman, always stops. In comparison to Beltrán’s expertly controlled performance, Pattison cannot take command of his ever-changing character. (“Who are you pretending to be today?” demands Federico.) He does best while playing a subdued Dalí, becoming vulnerable only when alone with Federico, but is painful to watch as “the genius,” a pompous, gelled-mustached wearing surrealist. Pattison simply cannot play eccentric. At one point at the start of the film, he wears a top hat with a bobbed brunette wig, resembling Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka -- maybe with an actor as gifted as Depp, the film could’ve told the story director Paul Morrison intended.

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