The Golden Years

All the directors were excited by the chance to capture a definitive moment in the evolution of jazz music. Says Errando, “It was the moment when new musicians came along like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie with a new kind of music, that is not for dancing, full of notes, played really fast, a music that now we call jazz. Then the Cuban musicians arrived.

Dizzy Gillespie has said many times in interviews, there was a moment for him that was very important, it was the moment he first played with Chano Pozo. Chano Pozo was the first percussionist that played in a jazz band. It’s a new instrument. He brings all these Latin and African rhythms that are very new for these musicians, and this new instrument also changes the way you have rhythms. The drummer has to play in a different way.”
Adds Trueba: “You don’t have to be a specialist in Cuban history and American jazz to really enjoy the movie. But maybe if you know that period and that time, then you can find some small extra gifts.”

"A brilliant homage to the cinema, to music and to love stories"

Luis Martínez / El Mundo
"A stunning series of images, a genuine visual feast."

Llàtzer Moix / La Vanguardia
"One is left with the sensation of having seen something familiar, warm and, let’s confess, beautiful"

Luis Martínez / El Mundo
"The architecture of Havana and New York filtered by Mariscal’s particular iconography. "

Federico Simón / El País
"Riddled with movie references as well as musical ones. It is a tribute that is full of sensuality."

N. S. / El Periódico
"Mariscal and Trueba’s creative torrent flows through a city with wide open balconies. "

C. Jiménez / Ine.es
"One of the best films ever made about jazz, I can’t think of any other that is truer and more moving."

Gary Giddins / Film Comment
"Mariscal has captured the essence of Havana in the 40s and 50s with impressive beauty, detail and colour. "

Rebeca Mauleón
"An intense and sexy yet turbulent love story"

telegraph.co.uk
"It transports you to the vibrant, violent, sensual world of Havana in the 40s."

Laura Snoad / designweek.co.uk
"Visually hypnotic, musically electric "

Stephen Farber / Film Review
"The elegant Central Park winter scene is memorable"

Stephen Farber / Film Review
"The best musical of the year"

Philip French / The Observer
"Mariscal has created the sexiest cartoon female since Jessica Rabbit. "

Paul Whitington / Independent
"For all the romantics out there"

Helen O'Hara / Empire
"Absolutely unique"

Chris Sullivan / Metropoli
"The golden age of cartoons continues"

Pam Grady / Movies.Yahoo.
"Pure pleasure"

Meredith Brody / ThompsonOnHollywood
"A feast for one’s sight and hearing, These are easily the best 90 minutes I’ve spent in the cinema this year."

Joseph Fahim /Daily News Egypt
"Impeccable work of art"

David Jenkins / Time Out
"The virtuosity does not decline in this visually impressive and musically rich film"

Lisa Mullen / Sight and Sound
"I have fallen in love with a film full of so much life, warmth and love and it reminded me what style in the movies is about"

Shane McNeil / Toronto Film Scene
"This is a classical Hollywood film and truly a work of art"

Shane McNeil / Toronto Film Scene
"Mariscal's drawings are magical"

Jenny McCartney / Seven The Sunday
"The best jazz soundtrack in decades"

Chris Sullivan / Metropoli
"One of the 10 best films of the year"

Mark Kermode (BBC)
"Almost unimaginably rich and resonant!. Sexy, sweet … an animated valentine to Cuba and its music"

AO Scott / NY Times
"A swooningly beautiful, adults-only drama!. Evokes a bygone era as well as, or maybe even better than, The Artist!"

Lou Lumenick / New York Post
"Chico & Rita is the first big serendipitous surprise of 2012! A dazzling and delightful work of modernist animation!"

Andrew O-Hehir / Salon
"The grown-up choice to win this year’s oscar for animated feature!"

Marshall Fine / Huffington Post
"Beautiful! a swaying, sexy, dream of a movie! The year's best musical, and one of the year's finest animated films!"

The Observer