Havana Suite

Dawn breaks in Havana as we follow thirteen ordinary Cubans throughout the day. Havana Suite is experimental and daring as plot and dialogue are virtually absent. All we see are snippets from a day in the Cuban capital, so disjointed and seemingly random that it takes a while to realize the director’s vision of capturing the charater’s movements throughout the painfully ordinary day. The characterization of every person is patiently outlined as morning passes to afternoon, afternoon to night. A hospital worker by day performs in drag by night; a man taking care of his old mother plays saxophone in the church choir when evening falls. We meet a widower and his young son with Down syndrome. They get through the day with smiles and mutual support before they clink glasses and eat together, topless. Havana Suite was praised as the best Cuban film in decades when it premiered in 2003. Fernando Pérez captures the everyday joys and worries of human lives filled with devotion, loss and the pursuit of dreams. red