Clandestine Stories in Havana (Historias Clandestinas en la Habana)

Running time: N/A

Diego Musiak's second feature film is a delightful mix of travelogue, romance, and comedy, and when you watch it, you'll learn something. An Argentinean production filmed in Cuba, Clandestine Stories in Havana is a series of inter-related stories, beginning with Laura's. She's just arrived in Havana from Argentina, newly separated from her husband, and unsure about her future in both work and love. Also unsure about his love life is Frank, the taxi driver Laura meets. His wife has left him, he lives with his mother, and he's in no mood for love. Another new arrival from Argentina is Francisco, an elderly gentleman who failed in business, failed with his family, and who now wants to succeed at suicide. He's returned to Cuba where he met and lost his first love. Helping both Francisco and Laura is Carlos, a bartender who's having his own problems with his gay lover, Jaime. As in any good travelogue, you learn something. In this case, Santiago and Rosario, two fictitious documentary filmmakers, teach us the facts about Cuba, but Musiak's characters teach us about the mood, the feeling, the ambiance of Cuba, the place where love, in all its forms, is everywhere. --Jeffrey Vargas