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Buena Vista Social Club

Buena Vista Social Club

Documentary · Music · 1999

In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.

Movie details

Buena Vista Social Club

“In Havana, music isn't a pastime, it's a way of life.”

1999 Documentary · Music 1h 45m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.6 / 10

21.1K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

92 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

81 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.5 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

In this fascinating Oscar-nominated documentary, American guitarist Ry Cooder brings together a group of legendary Cuban folk musicians (some in their 90s) to record a Grammy-winning CD in their native city of Havana. The result is a spectacular compilation of concert footage from the group's gigs in Amsterdam and New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, with director Wim Wenders capturing not only the music -- but also the musicians' life stories.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Buena Vista Social Club?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Wim Wenders

Written by

Wim Wenders

Compay Segundo

Compay Segundo

Self

Eliades Ochoa

Eliades Ochoa

Self

Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder

Self

Joachim Cooder

Joachim Cooder

Self

Ibrahim Ferrer

Ibrahim Ferrer

Self

Omara Portuondo

Omara Portuondo

Self

R

Rubén González

Self

Court is in session

Put Buena Vista Social Club on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.