The Cuban

By: Robert Warren

Winner of two awards, The Cuban, is a brilliant musical story capturing the power of love, friendship and music. The basis is a nineteen-year-old pre-med student Mina Ayoub (Ana Golja) who works part-time in a nursing home helping a former Cuban musician trapped inside his head and dealing with Alzheimer’s. The patient, Luis Garcia (Louis Gossett Jr.), reignites her love for music and changes her life forever. The Cuban is a tale quite extraordinary, which uses music to ignite memory, rhythm to engage response, demonstrating the power of music and has a brilliant cast, clear storyline, and unique filming style making this film a worth watch piece for any audience.

It begins with Ayoub who gave up her dreams of becoming a singer when she was pressured into the field of medicine by her Aunt Bano (Shohreh Aghdashloo). She meets Garcia, a patient who doesn’t say much until she starts humming a jazz tune that engages a spark in him. She starts getting to know Garcia more and they begin developing a friendship as he relives flashbacks with his Cuban love, Eleana, in vintage style cinematic shots.

As the nurse-patient friendship grows Ayoub brings over a record player which gets him coming alive. They sing, they dance and start talking about the past. Ayoub ends up finding out Garcia is actually one of Cuba’s most famous guitarists and the stories they share trigger Ayoub’s memories of her grandfather back home. Touching on her love for music, Ayoub finds her heart for it again which was taken away from her when she was pressured into medicine by Bano. Through Cuban music, the waltz, samba and salsa dancing it’s the nurse-patient relationship that fuels this plot.

Gossett (the Academy Award, Emmy and Golden Globe winner) really fuels The Cuban vibrantly through his portrayal of Garcia. While silent for at least a good twenty minutes of the film, the audience develops a deep connection to the mystery behind this man that Nurse Ayoub is working with. He’s reluctant to get help from nurses at first, which we see as Garcia flings food away. As the plot develops, we see Garcia go from disregarding interactions to seeking conversations. It’s the power of music that really enlightens Garcia. There is one scene that really depicts how good of a job Gossett does with Garcia and that is when Ayoub brings Garcia a Cuban sandwich. We see a shift from refusing to eat to finally indulging. Ayoub let’s off a big smile and escapes the world daydreaming of his childhood in Cuba.

This then leads to spark some joy in Ayoub as we see her come alive. Here is where Ana Golja comes embodies her character and she starts dancing with her Aunt Bano as she is reinvigorated in her love of music. It’s a tiny record player Ayoub takes around Garcia that sparks his return to life. It’s seeing Garcia in this music that makes Ayoub joyfully begin to find that love in herself again to this music. That’s what makes this movie so special – it’s the beauty behind the music.

Director Sergio Navarretta is very clever on how he engages viewers to these characters. We start with Garcia stuck in a wheelchair and reluctant for help. He also takes a woman struggling to even be happy herself at first who then gets in trouble for even listening to her record player. When these two characters engage with each other; however, that’s when the magic happens. They really light up when they interact. We can see this through some of my favorite scenes like when Garcia flashes back to dancing with Eleana where Ayoub reminds Garcia of her. As he thinks of Eleana he dances with Ayoub. The directing of this is brilliant. Even the smallest of things like the smiling behind receiving a Cuban sub are enhanced by such focus of value. The director isn’t afraid to take a few extra minutes to give value to a scene through a pause and focus on physical movement.

The cinematography is brilliant. What’s important in this film is that viewers can take away the value that the neuroscience of music has and this film really shows that through its shots. The cinematographer, Celiana Cárdenas, did a great job. So good, in fact, she won an award for Best Cinematographer at the Whistler Film Festival Borsos Awards for this movie. What’s nice is this film has a real vintage and classic look to it. It’s got flashback scenes which take place in Cuba that have an old timey look and stage lights flaunting the camera. It’s like you’re there dancing with Garcia through much of the film as he relives his memories.

This movie focused on Cuban music has a soundtrack worth checking out as the music reignites the characters’ hearts again. It is the spark that connects the two main characters as they bond working to overcome the difficulties Alzheimer’s can bring. It shows how sound and rhythm can really connect all people regardless of condition, stature or difference. As an added bonus, the film is also headed sixty-two percent by women from the producer, costume designer, star actor and more. A testament to the power of music, The Cuban is a movie that hits an emotional note with an engaging burst of energy through the synergy of the nurse-patient relationship. It’s definitely worth the watch.