Jorge Perugorría Movies
In 1994, Cuban actor Jorge Perugorria landed one of the most prestigious roles imaginable in his native country, with a lead in the penultimate work of celebrated director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Although the film -- a gentle and thoughtful comedy-drama entitled Strawberry and Chocolate (1994) -- did not officially mark Perugorria's debut (several minor-league efforts had preceded it), it did catapult Perugorria from obscurity to instant stardom, thanks to his accomplished turn as Diego, a homosexual, bohemian iconoclast who falls hard for a heterosexual Communist (Vladimir Cruz). The effort also paved the way for extensive additional film work by Perugorria, in Cuba and around the globe. At this point, Perugorria -- a Havana native who grew up in the Wajay District and spent his early years as an actor doing Cuban nationalist theater -- moved squarely into features and maintained a prolific output; after a second collaboration with the late Alea (on Guantanamera), he quickly extended his reach into features produced in other Spanish-speaking countries. Efforts included the Mexican-Spanish co-production Edipo Alcalde (1996), the Spanish-Italian-French co-production Bambola (1996), and the Spanish-French effort Volaverunt (1999) as Francisco de Goya. Perugorria received a great deal of international attention when he teamed up with another top-tiered Cuban director, Humberto Solas, for a lead as a Cuban exile searching for information on his parentage in the 2001 arthouse hit Honey for Oshun. In the years that followed, Perugorria signed for a role that poised him for even greater global acclaim and recognition, as Joaquin in Steven Soderbergh's massive, ambitious three-hour Che Guevara biopic Che. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Veteran director Manuel Gutierrez Aragon provided a portrait of Cubans in Spain with this Spanish film, a winner of the Silver Spike at the 1997 Valladolid Film Festival. Three sisters -- aspiring actress Nena (Violeta Rodriguez), timid Ludmila (Broselianda Hernandez), and motherly Rosa (Isabel Santos) -- travel from Havana to Madrid to stay with their aunt Maria (Daisy Granados). Aboard the same plane is Barbaro (Luis Alberto Garcia), who stays with penniless but streetwise Igor (Jorge Perugorria), a man who thinks sleeping with Spanish women is the route to upward mobility. The impoverished Igor also creates forged passports to help others depart for Miami. The three girls move in with Maria, who lives downstairs from her friend Azucena (Kiti Manver). Minus papers, the trio is employed at Maria's fur shop. Matchmaker Maria brings Rosa together with awkward Javier (Pepon Nieto), but Javier goes for Nena instead. So does Igor after he spots Nena in a Cubano bar. Igor sleeps that night at Azucena's place, and the proximity to the sisters during the long night's journey into day makes a commotion and fracas almost a certainty. The film's music blends rumba, bolero, and tango. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jorge Perugorría, Violeta Rodriguez, (more)
- 1996
One might consider this violent adaptation of the classical Greek tragedy as Sophocles with a South American twist. Set amidst the rebel wars (representing the Theban plagues) of contemporary Colombia, Mayor Edipo (Oedipus) must mediate a peace deal between conflicting guerrilla groups and the army. It is raining when he leaves. His journey is interrupted when he gets into a shoot out on a lonely bridge. Returning fire, Edipo somehow escapes. As soon as he gets to town he hears that a prominent leader, Layo was brutally slain. No one knows who shot him. Meanwhile a blind seer wanders town making dire prophecies concerning Edipo's future. It is he who tells the mayor that Layo was murdered by a family member. Edipo's fate is sealed when he gets involved with the beautiful and much older Yocasta, a woman who last had sex thirty years before with her husband Layo. She got pregnant and bore a son... Tragedy ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1996
Fast-paced, funny and bursting with erotic joie-de-vivre, this outing from the always irreverent Catalan filmmaker Bigas Luna follows the lusty adventures of the bouncy Bambola and her peroxide-blond, gay brother Flavio. Their fun begins shortly after the death of their Mamma Greta, the owner of a ramshackle trattoria located beside the Po River on Italy's northern plains. Following the funeral, the two siblings decide to fix up the cafe, but first they need money. Their quest leads them to fatso financier Ugo. Barely able to control his lust for the buxom Bambola, he helps them, but when she starts batting eyes at the handsome swimmer Setimio (whom Flavio also desires), a tragedy ensues that results in Ugo's death and Setimio's incarceration. Brother and sister visit him in prison and one day, she attracts the attention of the beastly inmate Furio. Jealous of her relationship with Setimio, Furio orders him gang raped. The event is life changing for Setimio who suddenly looks at Flavio with new, wanting eyes. At the same time, Bambola goes to Furio's cell to engage in a fast, furious coupling that leaves her crazy for more. Upon his release, Furio heads for the trattoria to continue the affair. But trouble comes when Furio refuses to move the relationship beyond their beastly wrangling. He goes too far one night when he comes to bed with a live eel for Bambola to play with. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
An errant husband will do practically anything to win back his spouse in this screwball comedy from Spain. Jorge (Jorge Perugorria) is married to Laura (Ana Alvarez), and while they love each other, they have sharply divergent personalities and sometimes find themselves at odds with one another. Jorge finds his will to fidelity overcome after he meets the beautiful Estrella (Jessica Schultz), and when Laura finds out about their brief affair, she walks out on him. Soon realizing he's made a horrible mistake, Jorge sets out to win Laura back, though it proves to be more difficult than he thought. Dile a Laura que la Quiero was the first feature film for writer/director José Miguel Juárez. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jorge Perugorría, Ana Alvarez, (more)
In this satiric road movie from Cuba, Yoyita (Conchita Brando), a well-known singer living in Havana, travels with her niece Georgina (Mirta Ibarra), a college professor, to the village of her birth, where Yoyita is reunited with Candido (Raul Eguren), whom she loved as a young woman. When Yoyita and Candido meet for the first time in 50 years, they're thrilled to discover that the flame of passion still burns within them; unfortunately, Yoyita is so thrilled that it gives her a heart attack, and she dies on the spot. Yoyita's body must be transported back to Havana for burial, but while logic would dictate that Georgina should simply hire a hearse to make the journey, her husband, Adolfo (Carlos Cruz), a bureaucrat with more enthusiasm than common sense, has another idea -- by transferring the body from one vehicle to another at the border of each province, the cost of fuel will be distributed more evenly along the route. No one much cares for this idea except Adolfo, but he has the law on his side, so Georgina, Candido, and Adolfo begin a long, slow journey back to Havana accompanied by truck drivers Ramon (Pedro Fernandez) and Mariano (Jorge Perugorria), who was Georgina's student years ago. At every stop, the group meets a few of the people in each town (especially Mariano, who seems to have a girlfriend in every village in Cuba) and they share their thoughts on faith, politics, and love. Guantanamera was the final work from veteran Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea; he died before the film could be completed, so co-screenwriter Juan Carlos Tabió finished the film in his stead. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
A man finds that friendship and understanding can span many boundaries -- age, politics, and gender preference among them -- in this comedy-drama from Cuba. David (Vladimir Cruz) is a student and ardent Communist whose personal life is in something of a slump; his girlfriend recently left him to marry another man after he took her to a hotel in hopes of seducing her, and she announced that she couldn't believe anyone could make love in such an ugly room. One day, David stops by the park and gets some ice cream, where he meets Diego (Jorge Perrugoria); as if his flamboyant manner wasn't announcement enough, David is convinced that Diego must be a homosexual because he's eating strawberry ice cream, even though it's one of the rare days when chocolate is available. David is less than impressed with Diego's open criticism of Castro's regime (especially the government's persecution of gays), but he accepts an invitation to visit Diego's apartment; while David realizes that Diego has seduction on his mind, this is outweighed by the knowledge that Diego's flat houses such forbidden pleasures as Time Magazine, American record albums, and Johnny Walker Red scotch. David's friend Miguel (Francisco Gatorno) is convinced that Diego is a dangerous dissident and urges David to spy on him and pass along his findings to the government. But the more time David spends with Diego, the more he finds that he's intrigued by this very different man, and that he enjoys spending time with him; David also finds he likes Nancy (Mirta Ibarra), Diego's sexy neighbor. Helmed by legendary Cuban director Tomas Gutierrez Alea and based on a story by Senel Paz, Fresa y Chocolate was the first Cuban film to be nominated for an Oscar (Best Foreign Language Film of 1995); it also won honors at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jorge Perugorría, Vladimir Cruz, (more)
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