It’s easy to see what drew filmmaker Aaron I. Naar to his eponymous subject in Mateo, but it’s almost impossible to share his enthusiasm or even feel much sympathy for a figure who, for a good chunk of this sluggish yet disconcerting documentary, comes across as a genuinely creepy person.
Mateo
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan, Cuba, United States · 2014
1h 28m
Director Aaron I. Naar
Starring Matthew Stoneman
Genre Documentary
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Matthew Stoneman dreamed of pop stardom. Instead, he went to jail, learned Spanish, and emerged as "Mateo." Mateo is on the brink of completing an album of original songs in Havana. However, his estrangement from friends and family, his criminal past, and his love for Cuban women could derail his quest for fame.
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What are critics saying?
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
First-timer Naar both fails to convince us of his subject's musical genius and gives the impression he's leaving out important details.
Los Angeles Times by Michael Rechtshaffen
What begins as a quirky portrait of the artist as a gringo mariachi troubadour proves to be a telling study of a lost soul whose palpable passion for his music acts as a surrogate for more meaningful human contact.
Incisively intimate, it's a small but stirring snapshot of a gifted, hopelessly lonely soul.
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