Lovely news: “El Cantante” is not a vanity project.
Indeed, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony – two powerhouse entertainers – deliver professionally earnest, at times truly gritty, performances in their portrayal of salsa creator Héctor Lavoe and his wife, Puchi.
With documentary-style flourishes, director Leon Ichaso’s biopic begins in black-and- white as Puchi defiantly walks into a room for an interview about her deceased husband.
Lavoe died in 1993 of AIDS complications at the age of 46.
At times prickly, at times nostalgic, Puchi declares that 1984 was the “end of the good times.” But as “El Cantante” shows, even the best decades were often tinged with sorrow. Underscoring this fact, the film’s vibrant color returns to mournful black-and-
white again and again.
In the production notes, Anthony tells a story about the one time he met Lavoe. He arrived at the legend’s apartment in the company of Lavoe’s nephew, Little Louie Vega. Lavoe gave the barest of acknowledgments. Anthony proceeded to sit on a couch and watch TV with the king of a musical style that stirred jazz, rock and other musical influences into a tasty stew of Afro-Caribbean beats.
At one point, Lavoe looked sideways at the young Anthony. “My God, that is the ugliest woman I’ve ever seen,” he said.
There is something worn and feminine about Anthony’s depiction of shy Héctor Perez, who traveled from Ponce, Puerto Rico, to New York City in 1963.
The singer was rechristened Lavoe when he and trombone maestro Willie Colon became part of the Fania record company family. Ruben Blades renamed him again when he gave Lavoe the song that became his signature: “El Cantante” – the Singer.
Lavoe’s estrangement from his father gets hurried treatment. Héctor makes the trek to the mainland against his dad’s wishes. He’s a young man headed toward a future, but with a parental curse at his back.
In New York, he meets Dominican band leader Johnny Pacheco (Nelson Vasquez) and musician Colon (John Ortiz).
The ’60s and ’70s are succulent times. Scenes of Lavoe, Puchi and entourage in the late ’70s recall scenes from “Super Fly” and remind us that in the arts, crossover and cross-pollination are the American way.
Yet the movie’s narrative feels bony. There’s flavor in the marrow, but “El Cantante” leaves us hungering for more.
Anthony does a deft job of capturing the way El Cantante’s voice found its footing over the years. Another fine touch was the director’s decision to translate the Spanish lyrics in onscreen type as Lavoe hits achy, ribald, festive notes.
The way the story orbits around Puchi’s interviews robs “El Cantante” of some of its power to wow those unfamiliar with Lavoe’s artistry.
It’s not that Puchi “from around the block” isn’t compelling. She is. And Lopez captures a streetwise clarity that verges on haughtiness. But Puchi’s point of view overemphasizes a scenes-from-a-marriage drama over an artist bio.
When Puchi retrieves her husband from one of a number of heroin-shooting galleries to take him to a concert – he is chronically late for performances – she’s a combination of stage mom, addict sponsor, and, yes, enabler.
In the back of a limo, Lavoe tells his wife he loves her.
“You always love me when you’re high,” she says.
“I’m always high,” he replies.
The tension between New York-born (or Nuyorican) pride and immigrant authenticity that Puchi and Héctor embody makes for one of those ethnic truisms often lost in the translation. It’s one of the finer insights the stars and the filmmakers share.
Yet “El Cantante” never nails the ecstatic moment of musical collaboration we crave from this genre. Where is the scene that gives us a fly-on-the-wall view of salsa’s creation?
Note to Ichaso and his two co-writers: Those moments don’t happen in office suites where contracts are negotiated. They happen where the new sounds are brewing. They happen where the salsa gets mixed.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy can be reached at 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com. Be sure to check out Diary
of a Mad Moviegoer at .
“El Cantante”
R for drug use, pervasive language and some sexuality|1 hour, 46 minutes|BIOPIC|Directed by Leon Ichaso; written by Ichaso and David Darmstaedter and Todd Anthony Bello; photography by Claudio Chea; starring Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, John Ortiz, Manny Perez |Opens today at area theaters
