Little Ashes
Director: Paul Morrison
Year Released: 2008
Rating: 1.0
While studying painting at school, a very shy Salvador Dalí (Robert Pattinson) finds himself drawn to poet Federico García Lorca (Javier Beltrán) but is uncomfortable with his own homosexuality - as they grow apart, Dalí consciously turns himself into an eccentric showman while Lorca becomes a lot more outspoken about the oppressive social conditions in Franco-era Spain. Morrison's focus is on the 'love affair' itself - which is frankly blasé and little chemistry is generated - and pays only a minor amount of attention to the other components of the two Spaniards' rather complex artistic lives. Pattinson, trying to shed the heart-throb image (garnered from his role in the Twilight movies), dons the mask of a Serious Actor, and it's an awkward stretch for him at this point in his career - when he's permitted to sulk he's acceptable, but his Adult Dalí is downright painful to watch.
