Little Ashes
Director: Paul Morrison
Writer: Philippa Goslett
2009
Little Ashes is based on Salvador Dali’s recollections of his relationship with Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca and as a whole the film is pretty good, but it is the performances that warrant this rating. First of all, Javier Beltran is excellent as the poet Lorca and brings a maturity and intensity to the role that is lacking in Robert Pattinson’s performance of Salvador Dali. In the beginning of the film, Pattinson does well as the shy, socially awkward Dali but, as the film progresses he becomes less believable as the artist and is more of a young actor in shoes that are too big for him. When he is in a scene with Beltran, there is something lacking in his performance, almost as if there is doubt in his eyes whereas in Beltran’s all there is, is pure emotion. Little Ashes has many facets to it, and spans the years of artistic oppression by the Spanish government while revolving around the confusing relationship between Lorca and Dali. As to other comments about the homosexual scenes in this film, I will say that it is widely blown out of proportion. I’ll tell you that there is perhaps one or two kissing scenes, not a lot of nudity, one sex scene between Lorca and his girlfriend while Dali watches (and this one isn’t as bad as people make it out to be either). So, these scenes are pretty tame compared to other ones I’ve seen and this makes the film rely more on the subtle glances and dialogue to form the relationship between Dali and Lorca than on overt sexuality – this works very well for Beltran but not so well for Pattinson. Perhaps there is no onscreen chemistry between the two actors, or perhaps the casting of Pattinson is the problem but if you overlook his boyish uneasiness onscreen and focus on Beltran’s performance than this is a pretty good film.
