Little Ashes

DETAILS

Rob’s Role: Salvador Dali

Director: Paul Morrison

Release Date: May 8, 2009 (limited release)

DVD Information: Release date: Released in UK | DVD Released  January 2010 in US

Movie Rating: R

Cast Members: Javier Beltran, Matthew McNulty, Marina Gatell

About Rob’s Character: Salvador Dali was born in Catalonia, Spain in 1904. Salvador worshipped his mother and was devastated when she died from breast cancer when he was 16. He attended the Residencia de Estudiantes where he met poet Federico Garcia Lorca and filmmaker Luis Bunuel. Although he and Bunuel would later go on to work on the film Un Chien Andalou together, it was Garcia Lorca with whom he was exceptionally close. They two maintained a special friendship that had many elements of passion during time they were students. Dali continued to work and paint throughout his life, although he was shunned by the Surrealists for his political views. By the time he died in 1989, Salvador Dali and his art were known the world over. Dali is often credited with being one of the most well-known members of the Surrealist movement, although it has been said that he is also the one that sought out fame the most.
(character summary from Little Ashes official site)

LINKS

Official Site: Little Ashes Official Site

Other Links: IMDB

SUMMARY

Madrid in 1922 is a city wavering on the edge of change as traditional values are challenged by the dangerous new influences of jazz, Freud and the avant-garde. Salvador Dali arrives at university at the age of 18 years old, determined to become a great artist. His bizarre blend of shyness and rampant exhibitionism attracts the attention of two of the university’s social elite – Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Bunuel.

Salvador is absorbed into their decadent group and for a time he, Luis and Federico become a formidable trio, the most ultra-modern group in Madrid. However, as time passes, Salvador feels an increasingly strong pull toward the charismatic Federico – who is oblivious to the attention he is getting from his beautiful writer friend, Magdalena. Finally, in the face of his friends’ preoccupations – and Federico’s growing renown as a poet – Luis sets off for Paris in search of his own artistic success.

Alone in Madrid, Federico struggles against his psyche, tortured by the damning implications of his own religious beliefs and the undeniable voice of his flesh. He is haunted by news of Salvador, who is collaborating on a Surrealist film with Luis and has embarked on an affair with Gala, a married woman.

By 1936 Spain is teetering on the precipice of civil war, and Federico, now a highly acclaimed and controversial playwright, receives an invitation to dinner from Salvador and Gala. But the hosts have a rather unusual agenda and the evening is a disaster. A week later, Salvador is hosting a party when he discovers something and realizes, too late, the depth of his love for Federico.
(summary from Little Ashes official site)

CHARACTER QUOTES

Salvador Dali: “No limits.”