El Cantante

Infobox Film
name = Cantante, El


caption =
starring = Marc Anthony
Jennifer Lopez
director = Leon Ichaso
producer = Julio Caro
Simon Fields
Jennifer Lopez
David Maldonado
writer = Leon Ichaso
David Darmstaeder
Todd Anthony Bello
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = flagicon|USA Picturehouse, exter
released = flagicon|USA August 3, 2007
gross = $7,556,712 (USA)
runtime =
country =
awards =
language = English
soundtrack = Toma De Mi
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.elcantantemovie.com/
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0458522

"El Cantante" (2007) is an American film, released in the United States on August 3, 2007. The biopic stars real life couple singer Marc Anthony and his wife, actress-singer Jennifer Lopez (she also served as an executive producer for the film). The film is based on the life story of salsa singer Héctor Lavoe (played by Marc Anthony). The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2006. The film runs 116 minutes and has an R rating due to scenes depicting drug use, pervasive language and some sexuality. The film chronicles Hector Lavoe's life to fame, his battle with drugs, his attempted suicide, and his untimely death from AIDS.

Critical reception

Some film critics have expressed their surprise at the relatively high profile given to the Puchi character in the film (as compared to Nilda Perez's relatively subdued influence over Lavoe's career). The film was criticized for its formulaic writing and hollow character development. It received a 22% "rotten" certification from the entertainment website RottenTomatoes. However Lopez's role as Puchi was critically acclaimed by a mass of critics including:

"J-Lo really delivers the goods. I haven’t always been a fan, but she makes this movie a must-see." -Rex Reed, New York Observer

"Ms. Lopez brings a lot of fight to her performance, a hard, skeptical edge that makes Puchi a more interesting and plausible character than her husband..Jennifer Lopez, married to Mr. Anthony and a producer of “El Cantante,” does enough acting for the two of them in her role as Puchi, Héctor’s wife." -A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Ironically, Lavoe's sad story serves mostly to remind viewers that Lopez is still the dazzling force of nature that burst onto the screen a scant 10 years ago." -Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

"Lopez, nothing in her previous work on screen prepares you for her role as Puchi, unsympathetic codependent of a sympathetic artist. Fearless is an overused adjective when it comes to actresses. But Lopez is fearless here. As Puchi she is unafraid to be hateful, unafraid to be greedy, unafraid to let the bitterness fly.Here is one measure of Lopez's chilling performance: The only other actress I can imagine playing it this way is Barbara Stanwyck." -Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Lopez is on fine, fiery display here, all but channeling Rosie Perez as Puchi, the woman who rocked Hector's world." -Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
The Reporter has called Lopez a pretender for the Golden Globes for "Best Actress"

Cast

*Marc Anthony - Héctor Lavoe
*Jennifer Lopez - Nilda Georgina "Puchi" Roman
*Federico Castelluccio - Jerry Masucci
*John Ortiz - Willie Colon
*Vincent Laresca - Ralph Mercado
*Victor Manuelle - Rubén Blades
*Marcus Collins
*Ana Isabelle

oundtrack

Box Office

The film opened at #12 at the U.S. Box Office, grossing over US$3,254,000 on its three-day weekend, with a total gross of US $7,556,712. The film was screened in only 542 theaters throughout the United States, a substantially small number of theaters compared to number of theaters that The Bourne Ultimatum, which opened #1 at the U.S. Box office during its opening weekend, was screened in nearly 4,000 theaters. El Cantante made about US$6,004 per theater in its opening week. The movies distributor, Picturehouse, has rearranged how the movie is distributed in an attempt to target the movie to its audience. Each movie print cost Picturehouse US$2,000. Picturehouse removed El Cantante from theaters which showed softer sales while opening in more theaters where demand was high. [http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070812/ENT01/708120319/1031/ENT]

DVD release and sales

Released on October 30, 2007 El Cantante became a DVD hit. Peaking at #8 in the DVD chart, it grossed $16.61 million on DVD. [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=homevideo&id=elcantante.htm BoxOfficeMojo.com: El Cantante] ]

Controversy

Willie Colon, Lavoes' long time friend and musical partner, was critical of the movie, writing on his web site:

The Creators of El Cantante missed an opportunity to do something of relevance for our community. The real story was about Hector fighting the obstacles of a non-supportive industry that took advantage of entertainers with his charisma and talent. Instead they did another movie about two Puerto Rican junkies. The impact of drugs in the entertainment industry is nothing new; look at Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Whitney Houston today. [ [http://www.williecolon.com/ :::Willie Colon Official Site:::: ] ]

Fans of the movie point out that the movie did cover briefly the issue about Lavoe not getting paid by Jerry Masucci. Eddie, played by Manny Perez, says to Hector:

"Jerry (Jerry Masucci) used to be a cop, then a lawyer, now he's a thief, robbing every Latin musician blind - but, he's all we've got." [ [http://forum.picturehouse.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=818 Picturehouse Forum :: View topic - Willie Colon says it best ] ]

Lopez responded to the criticism when interviewed by the Los Angeles Times : "I don't know what movie they want to see, because this is the truth." [ [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-culture4aug04,1,102722.story?coll=la-entnews-movies Friendly fire over salsa movie - Los Angeles Times ] ]

Another controversy is the amount of screen time Jennifer Lopez has in the film. Critics of the film say that Puchi played a small role in Hector's musical life, while fans say the story is told from Puchi's point of view so she had to be shown as present in much of the film. [ [http://forum.picturehouse.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=853 Picturehouse Forum :: View topic - A review on another review ] ]

External links

* [http://www.elcantantemovie.com/ Official site]
* [http://imdb.com/title/tt0458522 "El Cantante"] on the Internet Movie Database
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References