Las noches de Constantinopla (2001) Reviews

• Good Cuban comedy with an irregular script

  marionaito2003-08-13

  Symbolic comedy about an old aristocratic lady and his young nephew who writes an erotic novel and wins an international prize. The clash between the old and the new. A parable of the change a closed society must suffer. Good filmmaking, but irregular script often makes difficult the meaning for non-aware spectators. Nevertheless, an interesting film which may gain followers with time.

• A clever black comedy

  margarita152004-07-05

  I watched "Nights in Constantinople" (Las noches de Constantinopla) during a Festival of Alternative Cuban Cinema, in Miami. Weird thing, it's not at all an alternative or experimental movie. It certainly is a low-budget production, but its sophisticated "mise-en-scène" make it more imaginative than most of current Hollywood mainstream films. "Nights in Constantinople", in a superficial view, may be considered as a frivolous black comedy about Cuban reality today. But in this unpredictable and funny film appearances are always deceiving. If you are really interested in issues like individual freedom and rights, this film is a kind of Cuban-style "Risky business", but better and deeper. Cuban cinema is here at its best.