El Cantante - Don't believe the mainstream media

[Jongo]

I had heard poor reviews about El Cantante but my wife and I wanted to see it anyway and I am really happy I did. We both really enjoyed the film, I thought Marc Anthony was very good as Hector Lavoe and thought Jennifer Lopez was good as well. The movie has some funny moments, Hector talking about being a dyslexic coqui, sad moments, drug addiction and the loss of their son, and uplifting moments, the performance footage is great.

Some of the criticism of the movie is warranted however, I think a lot of the reviewers have no idea who Hector Lavoe was and what he meant to his fans and so they don't really "get" the movie. I am sure a lot of people got it and didn't like it and that's OK but I say don't believe the negative hype and check it out.

BTW, it was nice to see Eddie Montalvo with a small cameo in the film.

[JohnnyConga]

From what I heard is that Milton Cardona has kept diaries of his time in the Willie Colon band and was never consulted on anything and he was THERE!....J-lo and Marc are the ones who took it upon themselves to do this story.....whether it will hold up or not only time will tell....but most people are digging it.....Hector's story is not a new one, many Greats have come and gone due to their "lifestyles" and interference from outside sources....you can find many morals to his story..."JC" Johnny Conga.....

[Derbeno]

This is the article doing the rounds.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/enterta....0.story

I will see it later in the week and make up my own mind

[Raymond]

I have not have the time yet to see the movie but I want to see it. The reviews have been bad and the movie is not making money in the US. (Here in PR is doing well).

The bad reviews???? The first one is that Marc Anthony does not have the acting charisma for the movie, although, everybody admits he is great in the singing parts. Lots of people do not like the fact that the part that was shown in the movie was the tragic part, i.e, drugs, etc, etc....But you now, in movies they do these things for dramatic purposes.

The only thing that got this movie made was Ms. JLo. I gave her the kudos of trying to bring into the US market a movie about that salsa is the main genre...Is too bad too that one of the bad reviews is that the movie focus on her character as the teller of the story but how the movie was going to be made? JLo, with all her faults, was the only who could convince Hollywood of doing this.


Yeap! Everybody close in Hector's live is mad and/or dissapointed because they were not consulted at all...But what can you do??? Was Ms. JLo all the way!

Too bad the movie is not doing well in the US

Saludos!

[Tonio]

I would love to watch this movie, though I can't remember the last time I went to a theater :p

I have'nt read the reviews yet, however.

So am I in left field thinking that J-lo and Marc, just got this flick going without good research just for a plug of Latin music/singer without proper productio
n for the sake of trying to make millions ? Or maybe they had a all high & mighty producer who changed the story line?
Just thinking out loud.

Is the performance footage good? As in are the band members real or stand ins.

T



Edited By Tonio on 1187030751

[OLSONGO]

I have not seen the film. And I probably will not see it.
Hector is Hector.
But from what I hear , Hectors family is not to pleased.
They say the story line has been distorted.
That Hector got married in his pj s in the apartment, and not in a glamorous wedding.
What I do know is that all of the sudden, he is getting more play on the latin radio. And putting salsa in the faces of the young regetoneros that may not have heard a master of the lyrics like Hector Lavoe.

Paz Olsongo

[afrocubarico]

Hello my fellow congueros/congueras!
I saw the movie this past weekend and took my mom with me. We both dug the sound tracks as they played some of Hector's greatest songs. I thought the movie was well put together. IMO Marc Anthony played a good role and I thought he copied Hector's gestures quite well. There was definitely some humor injected into this movie as well as some sad potrayals of La Voe.

I also think J-Lo did a great job in her role as Puchi, Hector's wife. To me, she made that character come to life! It is my understanding that this was no fly-by-night idea; J-Lo had been working on this project even before her and hubby Marc Anthony were married.

Does this movie tell the whole story of the the legendary Hector Lavoe? Of course not. Did the movie show more of Hector's dark side. Probably so. I also understand that J-Lo is not expecting this to be a hit at the box office. She wanted this story to be seen by a younger generation and I think she has accomplished her goal. In my book, that deserves some serious "props". On a scale of 1-5 I give this movie 3 1/2 congas and recommend it.

afrocubarico

P.S.-Yes, I too was happy to see "Mr. Marcha", Eddie Montalvo in a few scenes in the movie as well as Willie Villegas, Chuckie Lopez, Ismael Quintana, and also saw a quick flash of Milton Cardona during the Santeria scene.

[ABAKUA]

Well, I saw it tonight.
I have F all chance of the movie being released anytime soon or for all here in Australia, so I had my girlfriends dad download it. We watched it on his big a s s projector screen.

In summary, I enjoyed the movie, I felt Marc and JLo acted very well, I felt all the characters very convincing and believable. I enjoyed the music and seeing our hero's up on the big screen.

Yes, the movie focussed on the dark side of Hector, his life is no secret, nor the habits/lifestyle of the majority of the musicians/partners around him.
I felt it over focussed on this, making him look like a singer who made it and became a coke/heroin junkie and alcoholic who was not there for his child or wife, and a slacker with work/gig responsibilities.
Rather than show him the respect he deserved as an artist and what he meant to his people, the fans.
It portrays his persona in a far too dark manor.

Other than that I really did enjoy the movie, as JC said, there are many lessons to be learnt and morals to the story.

Id encourage you to go see it, make you're own mind of it.


Having played several of his songs in some of my former bands, it brought back great memories hearing/seeing them in the movie.

One thing is for sure, his music will live on forever.


Apart from the final impression of the portrayel, I did thoroughly enjoy the film.



Edited By ABAKUA on 1187622035

[ABAKUA]

From Willie Colon's website:

EL CANTANTE

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.

I think Hector deserves the recognition the movie pretended to give him. However, as someone who advised the producers, it's painfully obvious that they didn't understand what made him so important. It was the music. It was his talent. They didn't understand or respect the true importance of our music to people around the world. It's difficult to comprehend how two individuals who are in the music business like Marc and Jennifer are not aware of the damage and the consequences of promoting only the negative side of our Latin music culture.

I was disappointed that there wasn't a minimal effort to correct what I felt were serious chronological and factual errors. This tells me that they expeditiously crafted the simplest cliché script in order to just make a film quickly.

After the premier of El Cantante in Puerto Rico there were several statements of protest by people who had supported and participated in the project until they saw it. Their complaints were not about sour grapes or J-lo and Marc bashing but from a sense of betrayal and disappointment.

We are all invested in the world that this movie represents. For many of us the hope of our story finally being told sank into the horizon with the final version of this film.


Willie Colón

http://www.williecolon.com/

[OLSONGO]

WOW!! If there is someone I respect a great deal in the music business and as a Salsero is Willie Colon.
A man with great vision and an advocate of social issues, through his music.
And as he said what is the big deal about someones substance abuse, I am sure we could point out some kind of vice in everyones life; from alcohol to medical drugs addiction.
Willie also mentions that it seems they where in a hurry to put out a film, and we all know thats not the way to put out a respectable product in the arts, because it will back fire at you and open every reason to be called a charlatan.

Paz Olsongo

[Raymond]

I finally saw the movie and is difficult not to be biased if you know some of the facts, etc, etc,

Making a movie about somebody famous is a compromise because is hard to put in a film and make it interesting all the important things about somebody's life.

The producers of this movie decided to make the focus of the movie the relationship about Hector and his wife. It has some obvious reasons why they did that and is because of JLO. This movie could have never been done without here being the focus of the story. They tried and they did not do a good job because in no way you believe she was that influential in his life. I guess the way to focus in the relationship was to focus on his drug addiction but still they did not because you do not see how it happens or how it was developed. (Believe me, I give the benefit of the doubt to the producers because making a biography is a hard thing when you have so many people who have facts and is difficult to concentrate on something because that something might not make an interesting movies. All biographies have some changes to the actual facts for dramatic purposes).

Besides the factual problems to make the movie more suitable for dramatic purposes, I only give credit to JLo for doing a mainstream movie about salsa. In my opinion, they could have concentrated a little bit on the magic and the impact of salsa in that era but they did not. But that was my wish.

Good to see, Tito Allen, Eddie Montalvo, Gadwyn Vargas, Carlitos Soto and others.

Some factual problems: (At least the version I know was supposedly what happened)

1- Hector was supposedly introduced to Willie Colon by Johhnny Pacheco who wanted to sign Willie's band, who were a bunch of kids that were famous for playing "out of tune" but that had great energy, great sense of mix of rhythms and were popular in the NY salsa "cuchifrito" circuit of gig playing. Johnny tought Willie could have used a better singer. Hector was much older than the rest of the band and Willie himself.

2- At the beginning, Hector was not the forefront showcase iperson n the band. It was Willie's band. Hector got the attention when they noticed he had it. (The movie shows it as if Hector was forefront at the beginning).

3 - The movie shows like Willie and Hector were the "leaders" of the Fania All Stars...we know that was not the case. Quitate tu with Hector only singing was unbearable to watch for those who know how it went...

4- Ruben Blades did not give his song El Cantante to Hector. Ruben, because he was given a chance to record with Willie as producer and then with Ruben, Willie started his band again after he quit playing live after Hector left, showed songs to Willie and Willie "pulled" the song from Ruben for Hector to sing. (Ruben wanted to record it but Willie though it will be more suitable to Hector). As we all know, Ruben Blades was not the Ruben Blades we know now. He was under Willie's wing with a record produced by Willie that did OK, Metiendo Mano, and getting some recognition as a composer. I bet he gave the song "away" to not dissapoint Willie at the time. Siembra, his big album, was released just months away after Comedia, the Hector album that had the song El Cantante.

5 - The famous concert in Puerto Rico that was the "last drop" before his suicide try, was in a closed arena and it was not raining. He played two songs, even though the concert was cancelled, and then the sound people "pulled the plug." (There is a video out there that I saw once and is a sad sight. Hector is almost crying when he sang and the plug got pulled).

There are others but this are just a few.

Wao!

[ozrivera]

Saludos Hermanos
I think that as supporters of the music we love, that everyone who loves the music should go see it. and all my boricua brothers should go see it, without even asking questions. just to support our cause and the music we love. of course its hollywood, you cant please everybody. i think we should feel lucky that the movie even made it to big screen. it wasnt meant to be a big box office hit. i think that there are many inaccurate points of the movie but like i said it is hollywood. but, at least a story was told, about a man, who very few poeple nowadays outside of the latino communities knew about and now they do. now everyone knows who EL CANTANTE really is.

Peace

OZ

[pcastag]

I really enjoyed the movie, it was a bit dramatic but it also really brought the music alive, beautiful music!
PC

[JohnnyConga]

Because of the release of the FANIA catalog I will dedicate this saturday on my radio show "AL LADO LATINO". www.kbcs.fm 91.3FM, at 6pm Pacific time USA.. the New re-releases of the FANIA ARTIST'S AND HECTOR LAVOE...."JC" Johnny Conga....

[Changuiri]

WILLIE COLON HAS ALWAYS SPOKEN TRULY AND HE'S RIGHT AGAIN, WE'RE BETTER OFF WATCHING THE SPECIAL THAT E-MUSICA MADE, IT HAD THE REAL PEOPLE TELLING THE REAL STORY. CHEO, TITE, HIS SISTER, ETC,ETC. IT'S BEEN POSTED ON YOU TUBE!

http://www.youtube.com/results....=Search



Edited By Changuiri on 1188647210