Chico & Rita

It's nice that the Academy's animation branch doesn't fill the nominations entirely with Hollywood studio kiddie fare. As good as some films by Pixar and DreamWorks are, there are all sorts of animation out there that deserves acclaim. That includes Chico & Rita, a beautiful love story that is also a celebration of Latin music.

The film was directed by Fernando Trueba, who has directed live-action films (he won an Oscar for Belle Epoque) and artist Javier Mariscal. It starts in contemporary Havana, with an elderly shoeshine man. He trudges home after work, pours himself a drink, and finds an oldies station on the radio. It's playing a song that he recorded as a piano player. He's Chico, and the singer is Rita.

We then flash back to Havana in 1948, and one the film's greatest successes is that it makes this place and time look so inviting. Chico, along with his friend Ramon, are squiring American tourist girls, but Chico falls in love with first sight with a nightclub singer, Rita. She's with a moneyed American (there is a hint that Rita has a side trade as a "working girl") but goes off with Chico. Unlike most films distributed by Walt Disney studios, there is some animated sex and nudity. But when Chico's girlfriend shows up, Rita storms off.

The pair then have an on-again/off-again relationship throughout the '50s. Rita is taken under the wing by a producer, who makes her a star and expects payment in return. He tries to end her relationship with Chico by paying Ramon to keep him away, such as sending him on a tour with Dizzy Gillespie in Europe. Eventually Rita's career ends up in tatters (she points out that she can't stay in the Las Vegas hotel where she performs), and there's a lovely coda at the end of the film.

The story here is kind of simple, but very effective. More evocative is the music. All types of jazz are featured, from bebop to the bolero. Several real-life jazz giants, such as Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Nat King Cole, and Tito Puentes, make "cameos."

The design is also superb. Mariscal is extremely proficient in presenting light--the scene in which the old Chico enters his apartment, the setting sun streaming through the blinds, is breathtaking. Mariscal also perfectly captures the excitement of Havana, New York, Paris, and Las Vegas.

Those who love post-war jazz and Latin music will lap this up, and those who don't will find themselves browsing through albums by these people on Amazon.