Once every blue moon, a film comes out of nowhere that has the capacity to ignite proverbial fires with a mere whisper. Fabián Suarez’s tender drama Cherri is such a film. Sure, it may have niche appeal and will most likely prove too poetic (read: slow) for a large portion of contemporary viewers. But those with patience, those seeking a glimpse into a different world, will find themselves entranced by the magic of Cherri.
An overweight, gay dance instructor, Cherri (Juan Miguel Más), volunteers to stage a play at a La Habana clinic. We follow Cherri through a series of quiet rituals—meditation, caregiving for his ailing lover Luis (Roberto Díaz Gomar), a side hustle dealing antiques—until his fixation on a local security guard, Tim (Noslen Sánchez), begins to take hold.
There’s real visual poetry here: the opening image of an angelic Cherri, wings and all, floating in the heavens while enjoying a massive sub; Cherri teaching the classes, becoming one with himself; and that ending — a perfect moment of catharsis. Yet Suarez is unafraid to counterbalance tenderness with harshness: the one sex scene in the film is graphic, kinky, explicit; Tim tears up a photo of himself with a woman in front of a crumbling Cherri; and then there’s the toilet-smashing sequence.
“An overweight, gay dance instructor, Cherri (Juan Miguel Más) volunteers to stage a play at a La Habana clinic.”
Juan Miguel Más mesmerizes in a complex role that Hollywood stalwarts would have a hard time tackling. The actor bares his all — quite literally and with his soulful eyes — deeply vulnerable and graceful, breaking into subtle ballet moves from time to time as if gliding through life on a stage, in his own effervescent, tragic world. The Cuban setting lends the film a rarely depicted texture, cinematographer Javier Labrador Deulofeu’s symmetrical shots contrasting the claustrophobia of Cherri’s existence with the expansive, gorgeous city (Cherri’s house is astonishing).
This is a quiet film, a kind and contemplative one, a look inside a life we rarely see. Suarez sees beauty in what’s typically considered ugliness, and he effortlessly makes us see it with him; with a minimum of dialogue, he and his team transcend our perception of splendor. The fact that his lead complements his vision so astutely is just the Cherri on top.
"…Suarez sees beauty in what’s typically considered ugliness, and he effortlessly makes us see it with him..."
