Bitter Sugar (Azúcar Amarga) (1996)
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66% of users liked it
(815 ratings)
Gustavo (Rene Lavan) is an engineering student born and raised in Cuba who strongly believes in his nation's socialist ideals at a time when those ideals are crumbling around him. His girlfriend, Yolanda (Mayte Vilan), dreams of emigrating to Miami and making a life for herself as a professional… More Gustavo (Rene Lavan) is an engineering student born and raised in Cuba who strongly believes in his nation's socialist ideals at a time when those ideals are crumbling around him. His girlfriend, Yolanda (Mayte Vilan), dreams of emigrating to Miami and making a life for herself as a professional dancer. His father, Tomas (Miguel Gutierrez), is a respected psychiatrist who he can barely support himself working at a state-run institution; he moonlights as a jazz pianist, where he makes four times his medical salary playing for tips to tourists at a nightclub. And his brother Bobby (Larry Villanueva) is a rock musician whose long hair and defiant posture have made him an enemy of the state and an outspoken opponent of Castro's regime; when yet another of his performances is shut down and his equipment is confiscated by police, Bobby, in an extreme act of protest, publicly injects himself with HIV-tainted blood, making clear that when presented with the slogan of "socialism or death," he would prefer the latter. Azucar Amarga was a highly personal project for director Leon Ichaso, a emigre from Havana who has offered one of the few portraits of Cuban unrest in the 1990s from a Cuban point-of-view. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Leon Ichaso
- Written By
- Leon Ichaso, Orestes Matacena, Claudio Chea
- Genres
- Drama, Romance, Art House & International
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Nov 22, 1996 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Presents a fascinating glimpse of Cuba as a country of shattered dreams and unfulfilled promises.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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René Lavan
as Gustavo Valdez
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Mayte Vilán
as Yolanda
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Miguel Gutiérrez
as Dr. Thomas Valdez
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Larry Villanueva
as Bobby
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Luis Celeiro
as Mr. Garcia (The Teacher)
- Teresa M. Rojas
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Felix German
as Secutiry Guard (Beach)
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Orestes Matacena
as Claudio
