The Mambo Kings

It’s the early 1950s in Cuba when, after a violent near-death experience, talented musicians “Cesar” (Armand Assante) and his brother “Nestor” (Antonio Banderas) decide that they can make more of a go of things, and stay safer, if they move to the New York. There, their lively and vibrant styles of Latin themed music and dance quickly go down a storm. The former falls for the cigarette seller “Lanna” (Cathy Lake) whilst the latter marries and has a child with “Delores” (Maruschka Detmers) and things look set fair. Their success hasn’t gone unnoticed by local kingpin “Perez” (an unconvincing choice in Roscoe Lee Browne), either, but neither are keen to become one of his earners, so with work becoming just that little bit harder to find, the siblings and their band have tough, even dangerous, choices to make. The story here moves along adequately, and both leads deliver with a confidence that belies their respective limited knowledge of both English and Spanish, but the film is really all about the music and if you’re into your tunes with real heart and soul, and a fair dose of sexually charged rhythm, then these orchestrations are just the ticket. Both Banderas and Assante are capable crooners - especially the former when singing lyrics written in his own native language and ”Beautiful Maria Of My Soul” is really well presented in traditionally theatrical ensemble fashion. The characterisations are a bit on the shallow side, and the film does rather rely on it’s classy production design so what we do end up with here is a bit on the lightweight side, but seeing Desi Arnaz Jr. pop up as his own dad is quite a nice touch as I just sat back and allowed a tide of acoustic nostalgia to engage my ears.