Buena Vista Social Club comes back to say a last goodbye
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Produced during the success of 1997's Buena Vista Social Club album, Wim Wenders' documentary offered both fans and newcomers the joy of seeing brilliant elderly musicians rescued from obscurity.
For most Americans, the record/film was both an introduction to a genre they hardly knew and a direct encounter with its progenitors.
Two decades later, Lucy Walker's Buena Vista Social Club: Adios offers a very different kind of experience; "a fond farewell" supporters would say, "milking the last penny out of the brand", cynics would snort. The truth is somewhere in the middle for this muddled outing.
Though it offers new biographical tidbits about its charismatic stars, they are few that justify the storyline returning to the screen. With years of copycats digging up everyone from Pakistani classical musicians to retired Motown session men for one last big concert, making this format much less of a sure thing than it once was.
LatinAmerican Post | Manuela Pulido
Copy edited by Susana Cicchetto
