''The King of Havana'' ( es, El rey de La Habana, links=no) is a 2015 Spanish-Dominican drama film directed by

Agustí Villaronga Agustí Villaronga Riutort (; 4 March 1953 – 22 January 2023) was a Spanish film director, screenwriter and actor. He directed several feature films, a documentary, three projects for television and three shorts. His film '' Moon Child'' was ...

which adapts

Pedro Juan Gutiérrez Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (born 27 January 1950, in Matanzas, Cuba) is a Cuban novelist. He grew up in Pinar del Río and began to work selling ice cream and newspapers when he was eleven years old. He was a soldier, swimming and kayak instructor, ...

's dirty realist novel ''El rey de La Habana''. It stars Maykol David Tortolo, Yordanka Ariosa and Héctor Medina. It is set in the Cuban capital during the

Special Period The Special Period ( es, Período especial, link=no), officially the Special Period in the Time of Peace (), was an extended period of economic crisis in Cuba that began in 1991 primarily due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and, by ext ...

Plot

Set in the Cuban capital during the

, Reynaldo ('Rey'), returns to his old home in the wake of his escape from a juvenile prison, and wanders around

Old Havana Old Havana ( es, link=no, La Habana Vieja) is the city-center (downtown) and one of the 15 municipalities (or boroughs) forming Havana, Cuba. It has the second highest population density in the city and contains the core of the original city of ...

, meeting with prostitutes Magda and Yunisleidi.

Cast

Production

A joint Spain-Dominican Republic co-production, the film was produced by Pandora Cinema, Tusitala, AIE El Rey de La Habana and Esencia Films. Filming began on 16 April 2015 in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

and it had already wrapped by 4 May 2015.

Release

The film screened at the 63rd

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; es, Festival Internacional de San Sebastián, eu, Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in ...

on 23 September 2015. Distributed by

Filmax Filmax International is a Spanish motion picture production company and film distributor based in Barcelona, and one of Spain's largest integrated film and television groups. It produced the ''REC'' horror series, and owns the Nirvana Films an ...

, it opened in Spanish theatres on 16 October 2015.

Reception

Guy Lodge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' deemed the film to be "an unabashedly torrid urban melodrama that will enrapture or repel viewers — or, quite possibly, both — with its upfront, up-in-your-face excess". Neil Young of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' assessed the film to be "a two-hour immersion in poverty, squalor, sex, violence, prostitution and death", summing up as bottom line: "an extravagantly raunchy wallow in sordid poverty". Lee Marshall of ''

ScreenDaily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'' considered that the film, guilty of using "shock tactics for effect", "can't help but leave a bad taste in the mouth at the end of its entertainingly sensationalist two-hour ride". Jordi Costa of '' El País'', wrote about the film's brutal story, in which "the small outbreaks of human warmth" "make the blunt and desperate outcome to have an outright annihilating effect.

Accolades

, - , align = "center" , 2015 , , 63rd

, ,

Silver Shell for Best Actress The Silver Shell for Best Actress (Spanish: ''Concha de Plata a la Mejor Interpretacion Femenina''; Basque: ''Aktore onenaren Zilarrezko Maskorra'') was one of the main awards presented at the San Sebastián International Film Festival to the Best ...

, , Yordanka Ariosa , , , , , - , align = "center" rowspan = "15" , 2016 , , rowspan = "12" , 8th

Gaudí Awards The Gaudí Awards ( ca, Premis Gaudí) are the main film awards of Catalonia, celebrated annually in Barcelona. The awards were established in 2009 by the Catalan Film Academy as a continuation and expansion of the Barcelona Cinema Awards (''Premi ...

, , colspan = "2" , Best Non-Catalan language Film , , , , rowspan = "12" , , - , Best Director , , Agustí Villaronga , , , - , Best Screenplay , , Agustí Villaronga , , , - , Best Production Supervision , , Josep Amorós, Carla Jovine , , , - , Best Art Direction , , Alain Ortiz , , , - , Best Editing , , Raúl Román , , , - , Best Original Score , , Joan Valent , , , - , Best Cinematography , , Josep Maria Civit , , , - , Best Costume Design , , María Gil, Sonia Segura , , , - , Best Sound , , Fernando Novillo, Franklin Hernández, Ricard Galceran , , , - , Best Visual Effects , , Bernat Aragonés, Lluís Rivera , , , - , Best Makeup and Hairstyles , , Ainhoa Eskisabel , , , - , rowspan = "3" ,

30th Goya Awards The 30th Goya Awards were presented at the Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel in Madrid on February 6, 2016 to honour the best in Spanish films of 2015. Actor and comedian Dani Rovira was the master of ceremonies for the second time in a row. Nom ...

, , Best Adapted Screenplay , , Agustí Villaronga , , , , rowspan = "3" , , - , Best New Actress , , Yordanka Ariosa , , , - , Best Cinematography , , Josep Mª Civit , ,

References

External links

''The King of Havana''
at ICAA's ''Catálogo de Cinespañol'' {{Agustí Villaronga 2015 drama films 2015 films 2010s Spanish-language films Spanish drama films Dominican Republic drama films Films set in Havana Films about prostitution Films shot in the Dominican Republic Films set in the 1990s Films based on Cuban novels 2010s Spanish films Films directed by Agustí Villaronga