El Cantante (2006)

Some IMDB movie ratings are just wrong. That applies here. Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez deserved awards, they were that good. This movie is super intense and they, along with all of the actors, nailed it. 50+ years after the genre burst onto the New York City and global scene, Salsa shows no sign of slowing down. So if you want to see how Salsa all started -- the record label, the artists, the culture, the times and of course the music -- you need to watch this movie. It's really well done.

Both Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony gave a great performance!! Especially JLo - she really proved in this film that she's not just a dancing pop-star, that she's a really talented actress. And Marc Anthony also showcased his talent as a great salsa singer and a good actor. you can tell they put their hearts into it, because it shows. and all other actors fit right into the parts they played. i like salsa music and have heard Hector Lavoe's music before, so it was great to see Marc Anthony singing Hector's songs. But whether you know Hector Lavoe or not, you'd still enjoy good music and great performance. I would definitely watch it again.

I had been looking forward to seeing this film, despite the wretched reviews. After viewing it last night, however, I can understand why so many people (professional critics especially) were disgusted with El Cantante.Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are both capable actors who could have portrayed Puchi and Hector LaVoe as genuine human beings - complex, driven and conflicted - but instead all they're given to work with is mind-bogglingly superficial claptrap, posing as a script, which shows them as nothing more than clichés: she marries the up-and-coming singer who turns out to be a clueless drug addict and he drags her down with him or at least he does his very best to try, blah blah blah. There's not a shred of insight into their characters anywhere to be found. The onstage scenes were good (and I liked the creative way the English translation of the lyrics were displayed on screen), but this is not supposed to be a music video, it's supposed to be a full-length movie. I was not familiar with Hector and Puchi going in, but I know enough to believe they deserved better.

EL CANTANTE missed in the theater run, perhaps because the public is growing weary of 'little person makes good, becomes a celebrity, and aborts a successful life in favor of drugs' stories. But now that the film is available for DVD viewing in the home, the public can appreciate the very fine qualities of this surprise work. And it may not be too late for an Oscar nod for Jennifer Lopez...The film is based on the life of Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony), the Puerto Rican King of Salsa who gained fame and stardom in the 1970s and 1980s as not only a talented singer but also as a charismatic 'man of the people'. His rise to fame is related in a tremendously effective black and white late in life interview with Hector's wife Puchi (a brilliant role for Jennifer Lopez!) offering in flashback sequences the rise and fall of the King of Salsa, a life cut short by both drug abuse and AIDS. Much of the film is devoted to musical sequences that bristle with the excitement of Salsa music and Anthony carries his role as Lovoe very well.The cast is uniformly excellent with some fine new faces. Write/director Leon Ichaso lets the drama slip a bit in favor of the music, but still the performance of Jennifer Lopez as the smart but sleazy, tacky and wise Puchi is dynamite. The film is far more solid than expected: the opportunity for Lopez to demonstrate her talent is well worth watching. Grady Harp