In the much anticipated film El Cantante, real-life super couple Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony portray salsa legend Hector Lavoe and his wife Puchi. A large part of that hype is because there’s a certain stigma that has followed Lopez since Gigli, in which she starred in with her then love-interest Ben Affleck. There is no doubt Lopez is an amazing actress, though why would she do another movie in which she mixes work with her real life? As star and producer of El Cantante, Lopez was obviously dedicated in telling the story of “El Voz” as she and her husband are both New Yorkers and of Puerto Rican descent. So did they effectively separate their famed married life and express to audiences the story of another famous married couple? Yes and no. The music in El Cantante is great, but the movie lacked the real essences of who these people really were. El Cantante seemed to be all show and no story with an overwhelming amount of montages, flashbacks, and long music video-styled sequences.
El Cantante, directed by Leon Ichaso, exposes the life of the iconic Puerto Rican salsa singer Hector Lavoe and the chaotic relationship with his wife Puchi. The film’s intro begins in the ’80s with Puchi getting glammed-up in her New York City apartment. She gets into a limo and heads toward the bad side of town where Lavoe is strung out in a crack house. She gets him out of there and heads to Madison Square Garden where he is scheduled to perform. Right off the bat you know he’s a huge star with a drug problem.
With dreams of having a successful music career, Lavoe first moved to New York City in 1963, despite the disapproval of his father. He gets enthralled in the Latino music scene and begins to sing for various bands when he meets the Dominican bandleader Johnny Pacheco (Nelson Vasquez) who in turn introduces him to the up-and-coming bandleader Willie Colon (John Ortiz). Together, Lavoe and Colon converge their musical tastes of rock, jazz, R&B, and salsa.
Lavoe meets Puchi at a club and is taken by her beauty and boldness. Their relationship intensifies as does Lavoe’s career. He gets a record contract, changes his name from Perez to Lavoe (which means “la voix,” the French translation of “the voice.”), starts releasing albums, and performs at various clubs and festivals. The passionate relationship between Lavoe and Puchi leads to a tumultuous marriage which gives way to drugs, alcohol, and affairs. His career spirals out of control with his drug use taking over and through it all Puchi remains by his side. They experience the death of their son and Lavoe’s AIDS diagnosis, which he ultimately dies from in 1993 at the age of 47.
Separately Lopez and Anthony give decent performances in El Cantante. Lopez has some good scenes and dialogue, while Anthony plays a convincing drug addict who is detached from life. The chemistry between the two falters and only exposes the drug-era which ultimately takes away from the true life of a tragic Latin icon.
