A Pretentious Mess of a Bio-pic In the Worst Sense of the Phrase.
Little Ashes (2009)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:63
Fresh:15
Rotten:48
Average Rating:4.2/10
Consensus: It has a beautiful cast, but Little Ashes suffers from an uneven tone and a surplus of unintentionally silly moments.
Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for sexual content, language and a brief disturbing image.
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:08-05-2009
Synopsis: A romantic story about the young life and loves of artist Salvador Dali, filmmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico Garcia Lorca. In 1922, Madrid is wavering on the edge of change as traditional... A romantic story about the young life and loves of artist Salvador Dali, filmmaker Luis Buñuel and writer Federico Garcia Lorca. In 1922, Madrid is wavering on the edge of change as traditional values are challenged by the dangerous new influences of Jazz, Freud and the avant-garde. Salvador Dali arrives at the university, 18 years old and determined to become a great artist. His bizarre blend of shyness and rampant exhibitionism attracts the attention of two of the university's social elite - Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Buñuel. Salvador is absorbed into their decadent group and for a time Salvador, Luis and Federico become a formidable trio, the most ultra-modern group in Madrid. However as time passes, Salvador feels an increasingly strong pull towards the charismatic Federico - who is himself oblivious of the attentions he is getting from his beautiful writer friend, Margarita. Finally, in the face of his friends' preoccupations - and Federico's growing renown as a poet - Luis sets off for Paris in search of his own artistic success. Federico and Salvador spend the holiday in the sea-side town of Cadaques. Both the idyllic surroundings and the warmth of the Dali family sweep Federico off his feet. Salvador and he draw closer, sharing their deepest beliefs, inspirations and secrets, convinced that they have found a kind of friendship undreamt of by others. It is more that a meeting of the minds; it is a fusion of souls. And then one night, in the phosphorescent water, it becomes something else. --© Regent Releasing [More]
Starring: Javier Beltran, Robert Pattinson, Matthew McNulty, Marina Gatell
Starring: Javier Beltran, Robert Pattinson, Matthew McNulty, Marina Gatell, Esther Nubiola, Bruno Oro, Simon Andreu, Vicky Pena, Arly Jover
Director: Paul Morrison
Director: Paul Morrison
Screenwriter: Phillipa Goslett
Producer: Carlo Dusi, Jonny Persey, Jaume Vilalta
Composer: Miguel Mera
Studio: Regent Releasing
Reviews for Little Ashes
The movie commits the error of scanting their cultural importance and fixating on Lorca's semi-requited love for Dali.
A dry, dull retelling of a typical gay coming-of-age tale that's invigorated by neither the period backdrop nor the fact that the characters were real people.
The movie, with its badly painted backdrops, its stiff acting and its complete lack of dramatic momentum, is embarrassing to watch.
Beltran, for his part, makes a solidly believable Garcia Lorca. The problem is with the man with whom he's obsessed. In Pattinson's performance, we never see what Garcia Lorca sees in Dali.
Little Ashes is stylish enough to beguile and bold enough to provoke, but it's not bright enough to illuminate.
Even cinematographer Adam Suschitzky's richly textured and resonantly toned cityscapes and rural scenes can't make up for a flawed script and weak performances in what might have been a powerful historical drama.
While it eventually improves, the first quarter-hour of Paul Morrison's drama about the youthful exploits of Spanish artists Salvador Dali, Frederico Garcia Lorca and Luis Bunuel is cringe-worthy.
What's intended to be a daring look at repressed sexuality, three-ways and all, has the dramatic heft of a true-love comic book.
An intriguing and muddled relationship between three brilliant artists is downgraded into a tedious and lurid art-world soap opera full of convoluted love triangles.
A pleasurable, old fashioned gay romance with a good measure of art and politics tossed in between the passion.
Exactly the kind of flavorless bourgeois froth that the men it takes for its subjects would have ridiculed mercilessly.
Better to seek out these artists' works firsthand than to settle for this tame rehash, pretty as it may be.
A noble effort, that ultimately left me disappointed and unfulfilled.
[O]nly indiscriminate vampire-swooning tweens will appreciate [Pattinson's] portrayal of the surrealistic Spanish painter and filmmaker Salvador Dalí.
a scattershot mess with beautiful people posing self-consciously in elegantly composed scenes
Latest News for Little Ashes
May 14, 2009:
Little Ashes Moustache Contest Winners Announced!
Your humble Rotten Tomatoes editors would like to thank everyone who participated in our Little Ashes Moustache Contest! We received TONS of great moustache submissions for our... More...
May 08, 2009:
Little Ashes Moustache Contest - Give Us Your Best 'Stache!
In this week's period piece Little Ashes, Twilight star Robert Pattinson adopts the mannerisms -- and the famously eccentric facial hair -- of Spanish artist Salvador Dali. In... More...
May 07, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Star Trek Is The Best-Reviewed Wide Release of 2009!
This week at the movies, we've got a brand new Enterprise (Star Trek, starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto) and a failed delivery (Next Day Air, starring Donald Faison and... More...
April 19, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
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