‘Oceans Are the Real Continents’ Review: A Lush and Lyrical Vision of Contemporary Cuba in Black and White

variety.com:

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic There is a ravishing kind of beauty in Tommaso Santambrogio’s lyrical triptych of contemporary Cuban life, “Oceans Are the Real Continents.” With black and white cinematography that privileges an exacting formalism throughout, this portrait of the island works hard to defamiliarize the very sun-dappled, colorful image of Cuba that so dominates the cultural imaginary.

An intergenerational study on exile and belonging, Santambrogio has crafted a staid travelogue whose poetic sensibility is both what makes it such an intriguing proposition and also quite an alienating one. “Oceans Are the Real Continents” — whose very title nudges audiences to reimagine how it is we understand the geography of the world around us — is guided by a similar type of conviction.

Rather than trace a vision of Cuba through Havana, for instance, the film is rooted in San Antonio De Los Baños. The small Cuban town, at least as presented by Santambrogio’s eyes, is a ghostly space that brims with life yet aches for those who have left, or are about to, or who dream of being able to do so.

Three intertwined stories (though that word feels all too generous for the kind of wispy narratives the film orders itself around) anchor this neorealist-inspired film.