Biutiful (Blu-ray) (1999)

"...creates a feeling of raw, sprawling intimacy.  A.O. Scott, New York Times
"[It] ultimately gives us a story of hope, and from Bardem, a performance of staggering depth...  Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
"Soulful, tragic and made with loving care.  Mary F. Pols, TIME Magazine

Editor's Note Chicago telephone lineman Tom Witzkey (Bacon) is hypnotized at a party by his sister-in-law (Douglas) and begins seeing the ghost of a neighborhood girl murdered years before. He comes to the discovery that he is a Receiver--one who is able to see spirits. Now in possession of knowledge he never wanted to know, Tom struggles through his daily existence plagued by these newly-acquired supernatural visions while attempting to retain his sanity.

	Kevin Bacon
	Kathryn Erbe
	Kevin Dunn
	Illeana Douglas
	Fred Murphy - Director of Photography
	Judy Hofflund - Producer
	Nelson Coates - Production Designer
	James Newton Howard - Composer
	Gavin Polone - Producer
	David Koepp - Screenwriter
	Jill Savitt - Editor
	Richard Matheson - Source Writer
	Michele Weisler - Executive Producer
	Leesa Evans - Costume Designer
	David Koepp - Director

Variety
"...[Kevin Bacon gives an] exceptional performance....Koepp does a masterful job..." p.107

Rolling Stone
"...Moments of chilling terror..." 09/30/1999 p.100

Total Film
"...Koepp's film is much more of a Hitchcock shocker than an out-and-out spook flick..." 06/01/2000 p.86

Film Comment
"...STIR OF ECHOES stays assuredly character-driven and admirably low-key in its shock effects..." 09/01/1999 p.78

Premiere
"...Thoroughly unnerving....Stark and harrowing..." - 3 out of 5 Stars 03/01/2000 p.95

Box Office
"...With strong performances, intriguing and sparingly used special effect and some highly original concepts....Rivetingly haunting..." 09/01/1999 p.138

USA Today
"...The economical, fast-paced style and creepy mood are reminiscent of THE TWILIGHT ZONE -- for good reason....David Koepp's thriller matches the eeriest moments of the classic TV series..." 09/10/1999 p.12E

Chicago Sun-Times
"...Kevin Bacon stars in one of his best performances..." 09/10/1999 p.29

The Hollywood Reporter 9 of 10
Understand that Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Biutiful" has a strong, linear narrative drive. Nevertheless, and most of all, it's a gorgeous, melancholy tone poem about love, fatherhood and guilt. Some scenes are absolutely wrenching to behold. Others hit home with a punch to the solar plexus. Spain -- and Barcelona to be specific -- has beckoned forth the wistful poet in the Mexican-born filmmaker. His response to this summons is a film that, while about death, is teeming with life in all its tangled messiness...Javier Bardem, delivers a knockout performance as a hero whose last days are detailed with Joycean elan, filled with ambiguity, contradictions and lyricism."Biutiful" will require several viewings for the film to yield a complete portrait of its mysterious, flawed hero. Because for all the complexity of his previous films, with fractured, multiple narratives and an array of international characters, this in many ways is Inarritu's most intricate study yet of the human condition. - Kirk Honeycutt