Acosta was born into a humble mixed-race family in Havana. His divorced parents might sleep in separate rooms but, often bickering, remain in the same house. His truck-driver father sees a special talent in his son that he is determined to cultivate come hell or high water. From the opposite end of the spectrum to Billy Elliot, we have a young Acosta who, despite enjoying break-dancing in the streets with the other kids, is equally determined to play football and muck about with his mates. He does not want to be singled out or bullied and is initially adamant about not wanting to attend ballet class.
Edilson Manuel Olbera Núñez as the young Carlos Acosta.
Acosta's father (played superbly by Santiago Alfonso) describes how he was himself blown away as child by a film about dance. Though he was chucked out of the cinema for not having a ticket and, above all, for being black in a cinema for whites only, what he saw that day on the screen remained with him forever. Having seen his son dance in the streets, he became acutely aware that his son also had a special ability that he must not throw away.
The young Acosta is known as Yuli, a nickname given to him by his father, the son of Ogún, a primordial Orisha, or Yoruba God, who is a powerful warrior, spirit of wars and metal. Pedro Acosta, his father, a religious man, carefully tends the Ogún shrine in the home and prays for his son to absorb the spirit of the warrior and never stop fighting for what is within him. Despite his son’s reluctance, Acosta Sr says to the teacher: “He wants to dance, he just doesn’t know it yet.”
Santiago Alfonso and Edilson Manuel Olbera Núñez
The combination of dramatized scenes, in some cases with poetic licence, seamlessly flowing into danced interpretations of the emotional content of the moments described, work extremely well. Pivotal scenes pull you in with the grace and power of dance itself. It transports you onto another level, where we are moving between hope, terror, fears and dreams, all mixed up in the confines of a close-knit family unit, where despite the ‘divorce’, there remains a great deal of warmth and love. This unit is something Acosta cares for very deeply and is terrified of losing. At the same time, his father’s desire to see his son dance is almost obsessive. Later, Acosta accused him of ‘robbing him of his childhood.’ It is clear that the father was so desperate to guide his son to reach for the stars that it strained their relationship to breaking point.
Yuli (2018) premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival where it won the ‘Best Screenplay Award’. It has also been nominated for the Spanish Goya Award, including Best New Actor for Carlos Acosta himself, Best Cinematography and Best Adapted screenplay, Doubtless, there is more to come. Acosta founded his own dance company Acosta Danza, he is guest principal répétiteur at the Royal Ballet, coaching the dancers and leading rehearsals and recently he was appointed director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet from 2020.
The way the film YULI was written, directed and edited, and the manner in which it combines flash backs, dramatized scenes and dance, has a grace in itself. It is vital to mention the musical score, with beautiful original material composed by Alberto Iglesias. The whole sound design of the production has a voice of its own that adds to the narrative. We are so accustomed, especially on TV to being brutally flooded out by irrelevant sound tracks, that when the sound is selective and intuitive, fitting sensitively around the narrative without attempting to force you to feel one thing or another, it is distinctly open and refreshing.
It is not often that we praise the head of casting, but here the casting by Mireia Juárez was near perfect. Edilson Manuel Olbera Núñez, as the very young and mischievous Yuli, has the natural sense of poise and grace that has characterized Acosta throughout his career. It is relevant to remember that without the free dance schools, Acosta's career would never have taken place. There could be an argument to suggest that it was designed to keep the young busy and far from formenting trouble, but it is impressive that the arts were developed so freely for those who could never have afforded fees.
Neverthless, the young Yuli was very reluctant to allow dance to change his life, leading to constant disruption in his studies. He was very fortunate in that one teacher, Maestra Chery ( a wonderful performance by Laura de la Uz) continued to believe in him and encouraged him to have one last go, by joining a ballet boarding school. There, he sees a performance that finally strikes the note and awakens his innate love of dance and the true artist within him. There is a very moving scene that describes that epiphany moment when he begins to understand the power of dance as he performs on his own in the rain, carrying the dignity of someone who instinctively knows that he carries something special within him.
Keyvin Martínez, who bear an uncanny resemblance to Carlos Acosta is an impressive dancer who also plays Acosta in the flashbacks, apart from dancing exquisitely, he has a powerful presence on the screen. Equally, Mario Sergio Elías, from the Acosta Danza Company, proves to be an accomplished dancer himself, also playing the younger Acosta in some choregraphed dance sequences.
Dance is notoriously difficult to film convincingly. Werner Herzog successfully experimented with 3D in PINA, but here the criss-crossing of dance with dramatic scenes is quite breath-taking. One powerful example being the scene where the father, returning from prison, beats the child with a belt for playing truant and running away from his ballet classes. Enhancing the emotional content, the sounds and the images fuse and sway with the dancers dodging the belt and the family beating on the door for him to stop. In these scenes, Acosta plays his own father, ironically reversing the original situation.
Nevertheless, there is never any doubt as to the father’s love for his child, it may be a hard love, but he knows it is necessary. Later we see him with the scrapbook that he has carefully compiled of his son’s achievements and he carefully writes below the newspaper cutting about Romeo & Juliet at the Royal Opera House: -
“The first ever black Romeo was my son, Yuli”.
YULI (2018) will be released on 12 April with a Q&A event at the Royal Opera House, London.on 3 April, and again at Sadlers Weels on May 3 : https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/2019/yuli-the-carlos-acosta-story/
Find out more screening info at www.acostafilm.com.
Director Icíar Bollaín
Screenplay Paul Laverty
Book Carlos Acosa: No Way Home
Producers Carlos Acosta/ Andrew Calderwood/ Juán Gordon/ Michael Webbe/ Viola Fugen
DOP Alex Catalán
Editor Nacho Ruíz Capillas
Casting Mireia Juárez
Music Alberto Iglesias
Cast: Carlos Acosta, Santiago Alfonso, Keyvin Martínez, Edilson Manuel Olbera Núñez/Laura De la Uz, Mario Sergio Elías.
