El Cantante

What’s the Story?

Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony) was the most exciting voice in the volcanic eruption of the new Latin American music. In the late 1960s -- early 1970s, Lavoe and his contemporaries combined the pulsing rhythms of the streets of Puerto Rico and New York City with more traditional Latin sounds, spurring the spicy "salsa" phenomenon. This biopic chronicles Lavoe's story as he falls in love, has a family, realizes enormous success, and is then seduced by money, adulation, and the drug culture. And so it goes: Hector's wife, Puchi (Jennifer Lopez) pleads with him (while actively doing drugs herself); Hector doesn't listen. One calamity follows another, until the flame dies and hearts are broken.

Is It Any Good?

EL CANTANTE brings the magic of salsa music to the screen; unfortunately, it also brings the audience another bleak story of a flameout singer bent on self-destruction. Director Leon Ichaso, faced with the difficult task of taking a story that's been told many times, partially succeeds in making the material special. The colorful music and dancing are wonderful; the movie transitions through time and place with grace and coherence. What's missing is motivation and an understanding of what made these charismatic and talented people self-destruct.

Hector was such a sweet young man; Puchi seemed innocent in spite of a young sophistication. Both Anthony and Lopez fully commit to their roles. He's terrific, and this is the most authentic that Lopez has ever been. As the framing structure for the movie, Ichaso uses an interview with Puchi conducted long after her husband's death. But it simply isn't enough to help the audience understand Lavoe's self-imposed downfall.