Chico and Rita [Blu-ray]

Director: Fernando Trueba, Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal Fernando Trueba

Overview

A love affair between two musicians spans six decades and numerous countries and political regimes in this animated romantic drama. In 1948, Chico (voice of Eman Xor Ona) is a hotshot jazz pianist living in Havana, where his reputation as a ladies' man nearly outshines his talent at the keyboard. One night, Chico sees Rita (voice of Limara Meneses) singing "Love for Sale" at a nightclub, and it's love at first sight, though Rita is put off by the fact Chico already has a steady girl. However, when Chico backs Rita during a talent competition held at a Havana radio station, she realizes they're musically simpatico, and her heart soon follows her creative instincts. But after a quarrel with Chico, Rita is approach by Ron, an American talent scout who says he can make her a star, and she takes him up on the offer, traveling with him to New York. Not wanting to lose Rita, Chico and his best friend Ramon head to New York City, but as Rita achieves fame and fortune in the United States, Chico finds the limelight is keeping them apart, and after returning to Cuba, the island's unstable political climate proves even better than Ron at keeping him away from Rita. Chico y Rita (aka Chico and Rita) was a collaboration between filmmaker and music producer Fernando Trueba, artist and designer Javier Mariscal, and animator and director Tono Errando, and features cartoon "cameo appearances" from a number of legendary jazz artists, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Chano Pozo.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/03/2020
UPC:	0826663213676
Original Release:	2010
Rating:	NR
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:34:00
Sales rank:	3,365

Special Features

Audio Commentary with Director Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal; The Making of Chico & Rita; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Limara Meneses	Rita (voice),Voices
Eman Xor Oña	Chico (voice)
Jon Adams	(voice)
Renny Arozarena	(voice)
Blanca Rosa Blanco	(voice)
Jackie de la Nuez	(voice)
Rigoberto Ferrera	(voice)
Ken Forman	(voice)
Mario Guerra	Voices
Eman Xor Ona	Voices
Bebo Valdés	Composer

Technical Credits

Fernando Trueba	Director
Tono Errando	Director,Producer
Javier Mariscal	Director
Antonio Resines	Producer
Martin Pope	Producer
Cristina Huete	Producer
Andrew Fingret	Producer
Steve Christian	Executive Producer
Marc Samuelson	Executive Producer

Editorial Reviews

The animated musical drama Chico & Rita tells the story of two Cuban lovers over the course of 60 years. When we first see the titular pair, it's 1948 -- he's a jazz pianist and accompanist, and she is a sultry vocalist specializing in Cuban ballads. Both reside in Havana, but Rita harbors dreams of relocating to America and establishing herself as a musical icon. As the story rolls forward, various external forces repeatedly attempt to tear the paramours apart, but their devotion to one another abides. The specific twists of the narrative matter little, for co-directors Fernando Trueba, Tono Errando, and Javier Mariscal have lifted the outlines from countless 1940s Hollywood romantic melodramas, to such a degree that many developments can be foreseen long before they transpire. Stylistically, Chico & Rita finds a unique and perfect visual idiom for Cuba, much as The Triplets of Belleville did for France and Persepolis did for Iran. The film looks as though traditional Havana poster art, with its bold outlines and flat shadings, has sprung to animated life. The results are revelatory not simply for their originality in a cinematic context, but for the sophisticated and complex thematic role that the style plays in a larger equation set up by Trueba and company. Namely, the familiar story beats and the evocations of indigenous murals go hand in hand to establish a transcendent onscreen depiction of myth that stands out in radiant contrast to a more realistic backdrop. Therefore, it isn't accidental that the visually flat characters exist amid stunningly ornate landscapes, as minutely detailed as anything in contemporary animation. Similarly, it was a calculated choice to posit the almost iconic story against a vivid historical background, populated by animated re-creations of real-life jazz figures such as Tito Puente, Woody Herman, and Ben Webster. In fact, the fictitious narrative runs parallel to a chronological history of jazz, so that as we follow Chico and Rita's paths repeatedly intersecting and diverging, we also get a glimpse of various jazz styles evolving and emerging with the shifting time frame. The ever-present jazz strains on the soundtrack also mesh perfectly with the torchy quality of the central romance. The picture reaches a narrative plateau with the development that drives home its central theme most effectively: a substory in which Chico and a male friend travel to New York City, encounter the hell-raising musician Chano Pozzo, and experience life on the wild side -- a rough joyride with Pozzo through the wintry streets of Manhattan. Appropriately, this sequence ends on December 2, 1948, as Chico and his buddy witness Pozzo's brutal murder at a Harlem speakeasy following a drug deal gone bad. The intersection of the factual and the fictitious here is vital: Recalling E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime, Trueba, Errando and Mariscal succeed at using this sequence to investigate how history and myth intersect, as well as build a running commentary on how one fosters the other. In addition to Chico & Rita's many aforementioned strengths, it feels refreshing to see an animated picture so squarely targeted to an older demographic. The film's marvelous thematic profundities would go far over the heads of youngsters, but other elements also make it singularly inappropriate for small fries -- such as occasional bursts of shocking violence and an erotic softcore lovemaking scene between Chico and Rita that leaves little to the imagination. This isn't entirely original, of course -- in recent years, we've seen a handful of American and European-produced movies which defy assumptions that the animated form is most suitable for children. But seldom have any of them pushed the edge of the envelope so satisfyingly far.