Rubirosa part 1: El tiguere is the first part of a trilogy that tells the story of Porfirio Rubirosa (played by Manolo Cardona) who is the most famous dominican playboy of all time.
Please take into account that this review is after the first viewing and from a dominican's perspective. I'm no movie critic but this movie is a step on a good direction for dominican cinema in general so I want to comment about it.
-Im going to start with a rant about why this movie fails but also why it is still worth watching.-
Let's state the worst problem with this movie right away. The reason it is a 6/10 is because it is not accurate at all. It doesn't tell the real story of Porfirio Rubirosa, but it sells an ideal version of him as somewhat of a hero figure that he was not. This completely changes his whole character and the movie does no effort in explaining this is the case, leading people who don't know any better to believe this story as the truth history of Porfirio Rubirosa.
Dominican history as in many other countries is full of great characters and great moments that lend themselves perfectly for the big screen but are rarely used by dominican film makers (except Trujillo's story) in favor of mediocre comedy films.
Such is the story of Porfirio Rubirosa who is one of the most interesting dominican characters there are. I truly don't know why the screenwriters had to make such drastic changes to his story which only hurts the movie. Other that that this is a step in the right direction in terms of supporting film makers that are making this kind of movies.
-End of rant.-
The cast does a great job, but Manolo Cardona shines above them all with a performance so good, you would be forgiven for thinking he is actually dominican. Other members of the cast however have such strong accents that you can tell right away that they are not dominican. Even if they do a good job on their performance this issue gets you right out of the movie.
Damián Alcázar as Trujillo and Jorge Perrugoría as Porfirio's father, also do an amazing job.
The cinematography was ok overall, flashy colors are a bit overused in some scenes for my taste. In terms of setting they could have used more props like more vintage cars and such to better sell the time period. Also there are some anachronisms like the Palacio Nacional the government's main building being in the movie, it was built years later from the time the movie is set.
The editing in this movie leaves a lot to be desired, some scenes have weird jumpcuts like those you see on a youtube video. And the ending scene's cut is so sloppy I could not believe they just ended it there. I know this is a trilogy and is going to be uploaded on a streaming service but there are much better ways to edit an ending scene than just cut abruptly and "the end" .
The musical score was nothing to right home about but it was not bad by any means. It just didn't leave any lasting impression on me.
Overall it is a beatiful movie and is a great change of pace from the comedy overflow that affects dominican cinemas. If only it told the true history of Porfirio, it could hace been an instant must watch in dominican history.
