tsimshotsui Una Noche gives a nuanced perspective of Cubans in Havana that I can trust. It tells the story of a brother and sister and Raul. Raul and the brother (Elio) have been planning to cross to Miami. An incident makes their plan the very top priority, and the sister, Lila finds out. We gradually figure out that Elio is in love with Raul, though never explicitly spelled out, and is willing to do everything for him. Raul has had a difficult life, with his mother having AIDS and his father gone. He is apparently in Miami, and Raul desperately wants to be with him. But that leaves Raul to take care of everything, and we find out he does sex work to make ends meet. Lila is adept at taekwondo and is always just by herself. She prefers to watch people than talk to them. The exception is her brother Elio, who she said she couldn't live without. Together the three of them set off to Miami. I would have liked the movie to have centered Elio more, since he is the center of it all. We get to appreciate him through his sister, and through Raul, but we don't quite get to spend time with him as his own character. Dariel Arrechaga is effective and magnetic as Raul. I loved the film showing the complexities of life in Cuba, without it implicitly going one way (the usual way when Cuba is viewed through US Capitalist lens).

tadegeare This movie was very attention grabbing. There was a lot of real life struggles and absolutely nothing hidden about the lives of these people. The change in the lives of Elio and his sister, Lila, as they grow up has a huge impact on their lives. They need each other because their family is breaking apart. They want to help their mother but end up leaving her. A friend Elio makes at work changes their lives when he convinces Elio to leave with him to Miami. The movie is based off of a true story and the fact that Elio dies out in the water and Raul and Lila end up back in Cuba with no happy ending. Even in American films based off of true stories they are mini pulsates to end the way the directors would expect the viewers to want. There is no crowd appeal in these films the truth is given with no cushion. Overall I think it was a well acted and well directed film.

Cameron Crawford I always knew that a large amount of Cubans migrated to Miami over the "90 Mile River", but I never knew how hard it was to leave everything behind. On top of this, the characters in the movie, Elio and Raul go through many hardships while collecting items for their travels. Both characters get in trouble with the law in one way or another. One day, Raul is giving his mother medicine for her AIDS. Since Raul's mother is a prostitute, he walks in on her pleasing a tourist, when the tourist sees Raul, he tries to chase him out the door. The tourist trips and hits his eye on a piece of metal. The tourist goes to the cops and falsely causes Raul of stabbing his eye, and punishment for assaulting a tourist is prison. This makes Raul go on the run for the rest of the movie, always evading the cops. Elio gets in trouble when he steals meat for their journey on the boat. Both Elio and Raul work in a kitchen together, so Elio goes there to steal the meat. The guards catch Elio running away, so he is also running from the police. This really shows the struggles that Cubans have to go through in order to leave the country.

olastensson13 This is Lucy Mulloy's exam work from New York University. She's already a complete film maker. It's shot in Havanna and it's amazing this picture could be made there, because it's very critical against the Cuban police state, so much depending on tourists, that officers beat up citizens in the alleys, if they get too close in the wrong way to foreigners.A twin couple, boy and girl, who are very close. Another boy, Raoul, who the twin boy is in love with, but he doesn't dare to show it, because of the macho surroundings. There's panic for different reasons and the three kids plan to leave Cuba in the most dangerous way.A strong movie, far from clichés.