The Lost City

In 1958 Havana, a nightclub owner (Andy Garcia, who also directed) tries to hold his business and his family together in the face of the turmoil building up to Fidel Castro’s revolution. The movie has its share of problems; it’s much too long, and director Garcia fails to focus the action or to integrate all the stray elements of G. Cabrera Infante’s sprawling script. But there’s much to praise, too; it’s a fervent, heartfelt tribute to Garcia’s native city, doleful and beset by loss and regret. Garcia gives the film the smoldering intensity he has as an actor, though the inwardness of it tends to leave an audience on the outside looking in (it’s why he’s always better in supporting roles than when he has to try to carry an entire film), and individual scenes are stronger than the film as a whole.