Brainstorm Media
Sometimes a movie can tell a smaller story, about a moment in time, with stakes that aren’t about the big world ideas or destruction, but maybe just about helping one person. Memory is one of those things that defines us as people, the experiences and changes we go through that affect our decisions and how we perceive the world. So it’s a pretty sad and terrifying prospect that we might lose that when we’re older, or feel like the world in our head isn’t the same as the one out there.
The Cuban comes from director Sergio Navarretta and writer Alessandra Piccione and takes place in an assisted living facility/nursing home. Ana Golja stars as Mina, a lower level helper and worker at the facility, implied to be of Afghan heritage with her mother Bano (Shoreh Aghdashloo) a more senior employee or manager at the facility. Mina happens to be assigned to Luis Garcia (Louis Gossett Jr.), an elderly man who never speaks and typically refuses to eat his food.
Mina tries to get Luis to eat and tries to engage with him, but keeps running into issues. But she digs a bit deeper and discovers Luis is originally from Cuba, so she comes up with the non-approved idea to play some old school Cuban music. Instantly Luis comes to life, singing along the words and we see a bit into his head, where he sees the image of a lost love dancing near him.
Enthused by the success, Mina also starts to learn how to cook classic Cuban dishes, which Luis happily tosses down. But this isn’t in the rules, for multiple reasons, leading to pushback from Nurse Baker (Lauren Holly) who threatens her with being fired. But Mina still thinks her efforts are working, as even though Luis sometimes mistakes Mina for someone else, he even begins to stand up and dance a little, connecting back to his past.
After a sort of forced double date with a cousin, she connects with dashing young dude Kris (Giacomo Gianniotti) who supports her efforts to help Luis and they keep trying to find more ways to explore his history and maybe help him come back to himself. It’s a sort of feeling of temporary happiness, because it’s clear that no matter what gains Luis might make, he’s not going to ever recover completely.
So the joy comes in the moments, and the truth in the sincerity of emotions as two people of different generations and backgrounds connect through shared cultural artifacts — music, song, and food. It’s the sort of thing that makes a lot of sense, even if who knows how medically accurate any of it is — it still feels right, so that sort of thing doesn’t really matter.
At times the movie can be a bit repetitive, with Mina and Luis doing the same sorts of connection a few times, and the romantic side story with Kris isn’t really as interesting as the Luis storyline. But otherwise the story is quite charming, and the chemistry between Ana Golja and Louis Gosset Jr. works really well — it never feels creepy or odd, it’s a connection that feels real and full of joy.
You can sort of see where the movie is going, and you can sense the sadness hovering over the joy, but it’s a happiness that feels honest and important, with a lesson that feels resonant, to not forget about those who have been forgotten by everyone including themselves. A bittersweet movie that elevates the good times above the bad.
Planning to see The Cuban? Click below to see the movie, and be sure to come back and tell us what you thought!
The Cuban has a run time of 1 hour 49 minutes and is not rated.
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