Jerry Gonzalez in "Calle 54."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Tito Puente, Chucho Valdes Director: Fernando Trueba Rated: G Length: 105 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(July 19, 2001) -- Several of the world's greatest Latin music stars are showcased in Calle 54, an audio-visual delight of a documentary.

Virtually a record album as theatrical feature film, Calle 54 desires nothing more than to present such notable musicians as Chucho Valdes, Paquito D'Rivera, and the late Chico O'Farrill and Tito Puente in the best possible performance light.

Unlike the marvelous Buena Vista Social Club, to which Calle 54 has to be compared, this film spends little time on personal backgrounds, cultural significance or homegrown ambiance.

For better or worse, Calle 54 is almost totally about the music. And since the music is so magnificent, that's usually "for the better."

Fernando Trueba, the Spanish director of the Oscar-winning Belle Epoque, takes us on a musical journey through Miami, Havana, Brazil, the Bronx and Andalusia, Ala., exploring Latin jazz, especially as played eveyrwhere today by the great Latin and Caribbean diaspora.

But the vast majority of Trueba's footage is elegantly shot in a marvelously lit recording studio on New York's 54th Street. (Calle 54 means 54th Street.)

Trueba serves the music by presenting it in the most meticulous manner possible; capturing 12 rare performances by legends of Afro-Cuban and other Latin jazz forms, and giving them individual, beautifully lit, pastel color schemes.

Highlights include a searing "New Arrival," one of the last recorded performances by timbales master Tito Puente. Was it coincidence that the white-haired legend is dressed all in white, and shot, like an angel, against a white background?

The emotional highlight, though, is the first meeting in many years of pianists Chucho Valdes and his father, Bebo Valdes, as they play a remarkable keyboard duet of "La Comparasa."

Though Latin music has become all the rage, with stardom coming to young performers of widely varying talent, the performers in Calle 54 are the real deal.

And they couldn't ask for a more appealing showcase than this vibrant, colorful film.