Cuban-American filmmaker Leon Icaso, whose films “El Super”, “Crossover Dreams”, “Piñero” and “El Cantante” explore themes of Latino assimilation and cultural identity on Sunday died at his home in Santa Monica, California. He was 74 years old.
His sister, journalist Mari Rodriguez Ichaso, said the cause was a heart attack.
Mr. Ichaso, who came to the United States when he was a teenager, write ad copy In 1977, while working on a television commercial in New York City, he saw the Off-Broadway play Elle Super, written by Ivan Acosta, and decided to try a new career.
“I remember him going to the movies and saying, ‘We’re going to do that movie,'” his sister said.
He kept doing it on a limited budget.
“I paid for the production car,” she added. “My father paid for the meal.”
Released in 1979 and directed by Mr. Ichaso and Orlando Jiménez Real, this film is about a Cuban man (Raimundo) who lives in exile in New York as a caretaker of a tenement on the Upper West Side, living against assimilation. This is the story of Hidalgo (played by Gato). . Critics were impressed.
In a book review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby wrote, “This is a funny, lighthearted, emotionally charged drama, especially about people involved in transportation.” Decades later, the Miami Herald praised Icaso’s career, calling El Super “a quintessential Cuban exile film.”
He followed “El Super” in 1985 with “Crossover Dreams,” about a rising salsa star who wants to break out of Spanish Harlem and break into the mainstream. The film, which Mr. Canby called “a heartfelt and sophisticated, wise and funny comedy,” gave singer Ruben Blades his breakthrough as an actor.
After “Crossover Dreams,” Ichaso took a break from Latino-themed films for a while, working steadily as a director on TV movies and episodes of series such as “The Equalizer” and “Miami Vice.” But he returned to that realm in 1996 with the film Bitter Sugar, set in modern-day Cuba.
“Bitter Sugar” portrayed an ugly image of Havana, including drugs and prostitution, contrary to the romantic view of Havana’s life that was popular in some art circles at the time. The protagonist is initially pro-communist, but eventually becomes disenchanted and attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro.
Ichaso said he was outraged that many film festivals had not picked up the film, which was not only due to left-wing trends in the film industry, but also to festival officials who did not want to offend the organizers of the Havana Film Festival. said it was the result of the intention of
“They don’t want to lose their Cuban accounts,” he told The New York Times in 1996. “Some of the film community are very flattered by dictators and nations and say it’s cute to travel, drink daiquiris and ignore the status quo.” It’s happening just 50 yards outside the Hotel Nacional. “
Ichaso’s next major project will likely be his most acclaimed film. It was “Piñero” (2001), which depicts Miguel Pinero, a former prison inmate turned playwright. died young.
Benjamin Bratt, familiar to TV audiences from “Law & Order,” played Mr. Piñero of Nuyorican in what Steven Holden, reviewing the film for The Times, called “a career-defining performance.” . Bratt said much of his success in the role was due to Ichaso.
“His absolute faith in my abilities never wavered, even if mine did,” Bratt said in an email. “He loved his actors, understood our sensitive natures, and fostered a trust that gave us the courage to walk on wires without nets. he Since it was the net, it was so easy to love him back. “
In El Cantante (2006), Mr. Ichaso told the story of salsa singer Héctor Laveau. Singer Marc Anthony played Mr. Laveau and Jennifer Lopez (then Anthony’s wife) played Mr. Laveau’s wife.
In Mr. Ichaso’s film, “it kind of smells like the room the actors are in,” Anthony told The New York Times in 2007. He understands the streets, the humanity there, and the poetry there. He captures the essence of our people, our neighborhood. “
Until recently, Ichaso continued to direct television, but his last Latino-themed film was 2009’s Paraiso. It is said to be the third work in a trilogy (following “El Super” and “Bitter Sugar”) about the experience of exile in Cuba. It’s the story of a man who arrives in Miami on a raft and begins wreaking havoc for his own brand. It was evidence of his increasingly bleak view of the Castro government, as Mr. Ichaso admitted in a 2009 interview with the Miami Herald.
“I consider these three films a trilogy, but this is the end,” he said. “Exploring new characters, the new little Cuban Frankenstein that Castro created and unleashed upon the world.”
Leon Rodriguez Ichaso was born on August 3, 1948 in Havana. His father, Justo Rodriguez Santos, was a poet and writer, and his mother, Antonia Icaso, wrote for Cuban radio.
When Leon was 14, he left Cuba for Miami with his mother and sister. In 1968 his father also joined there. By then Mr. Ichaso had briefly tried college but dropped out. The family soon moved to New York, where Mr. Ichaso learned about filmmaking by shooting commercials for Goya Foods and other clients.
Ichaso’s marriage to Karen Willinger and Amanda Barber ended in divorce. his sister survived.
Ichaso’s films were generally well-received, but never quite made it into the A-list of directors.
“Some directors who make movies spend their entire lives making them. That’s not my case,” Ichaso said in a 2007 Times interview. “Every time I make a movie, I think, ‘This is it.’ But then nothing happens.”
Bratt, who said he met his wife, actress Talisa Soto, while making “Piñero,” said he admired Ichaso’s risk-taking attitude.
“He had a lively curiosity, a glint in his eyes that hinted at mischief and knowledge, a survivor’s wink that showed him going to and from Hell and perhaps enjoying it,” said Bratt. said Mr. “He had a deep passion for poetry and music, and his films, inspired by the work of his heroes Miles, Monk and Coltrane, were pure jazz and respectful of compositional structure. , was most alive when riffing and daring outside the line.
