81
Metascore
19 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100New Times (L.A.)New Times (L.A.)Infectious, intoxicating joy is the emotion conveyed in every frame of this ravishing, exuberant documentary.
- 90Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranBeing able to hear this kind of playing is a special moment in time, one we don't want to end and one that we're privileged to experience.
- 90New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerNew York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerI've never seen another movie that so clearly expresses the sensual sustenance that great folk culture provides its practitioners.
- 88San Francisco ExaminerSan Francisco ExaminerA 140-minute film masterpiece.
- 80VarietyEddie CockrellVarietyEddie CockrellWenders lets the music and the sprightly people who make it speak for themselves, although the director's ongoing fascination with the urban environment is in top form as the camera serenely cruises the streets of Havana, often at a velvety dusk.
- 80Village VoiceVillage VoiceFeels like a timeless blast from the past.
- 67Austin ChronicleRussell SmithAustin ChronicleRussell SmithBuena Vista Social Club is obviously intended less as a concert film than as a set of cinematic liner notes about the vanishing musical culture.
- 50Film.comFilm.comLacks dramatic tension and fails to bring this great music alive. It does not sing.
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt is a touching story, and the musicians (some over 90 years old) still have fire and grace onstage, but, man, does the style of this documentary get in the way.