La Partida

La Partida (a.k.a. The Last Match), dir. Antonio Hens, 2013, Cuba, 90 min., in Spanish with English subtitles 
Monday, June 24, 6:30 pm @ Castro

Reinier (Reinier Díaz, left/izq.)
and Yosvani (Milton García)

The title in Spanish, La Partida, has multiple meanings: the match (as in, the football/soccer game), the departure (leaving a place), the consignment or item in an account, the certificate (of birth, death, etc.), or the wager. The film La Partida tells the story of Reinier and Yosvani, two young men living in Havana, Cuba. Reinier is a soccer player with a wife and child, trying to support himself with a little gambling and a little rentboy action for the foreign tourists on the Malecón, Havana’s seawall. Yosvani is a migrant from a small town, hooked up with an older woman and her father Silvano, a loan shark whom Yosvani assists with his business. (Cubans from other provinces are not free to move to the capital unless they have a sponsor.) The friendship between Reinier and Yosvani takes a more physical turn after an ecstasy-fueled night out at a club, but there are many obstacles, including the young men’s internal conflict over their feelings. It’s a window into a country that is at once less than 100 miles from the USA and yet worlds away, beautifully acted and filmed, with plenty of pathos and eye candy. Highly recommended.

• IMDb page • trailer (YouTube • Vimeo)