Jesus (Héctor Medina) is a young hairdresser at a Havana nightclub that specializes in lip-syncing musical numbers in drag. It’s pure camp, but it’s beautiful, and Jesus dreams of commanding and captivating the audience. At home, his life is destitute. His father—the famous boxer Angel—ran out when he was three, his mother died, and now Jesus scrapes by, sharing his flat with a woman who routinely kicks him out on the street so she can sleep with her boyfriend. It’s not much, but it is something. Then, suddenly, Angel (Jorge Perugorria) shows up.

Angel is no longer the physical specimen of his boxing youth but an old man, greying with an extra three or four or 50 pounds tacked on to his frame. The timing seems suspect; Jesus is just about to make his debut on the stage when Angel comes knocking. Could he have planned it? Or is he here just to ruin his son’s life? Unfortunately, Jesus quickly realizes how important Angel’s timing is.

Viva, Spanish for long life, is set in the vibrant and noisy city of Havana, Cuba. Irish director Paddy Breathnach mines the locale for all the flavors he can find, and as an outsider infatuated with a people and a place, it shows. His infatuation may remain on the surface, but it is a beautiful surface. Not every movie must break the mold, and Viva relies heavily on some familiar tropes, but it is a new spin on an old tune, sung beautifully by Medina and Perugorria.

Viva (2015)
Directed by Paddy Breathnach
Written by Mark O’Halloran
Produced by Cathleen Dore, Nelson Navarro Navarro, Rebecca O’Flanagan, Robert Walpole
Starring: Héctor Medina, Jorge Perugorría
Magnolia Pictures, Rated R, Running time 100 minutes, Premiered Sept. 4, 2015 at the Telluride Film Festival

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The above blurb first appeared in the pages of Boulder Weekly Vol. 23, No. 31, “BIFF returns with an impressive lineup.”