Shrooms director Paddy Breathnach has als dipped his toes in romcoms and thrillers, but this queer Bogota-set drama has a lot of tenderness in its heart.

| Original Score: 77 | Nov 25, 2023

If you go into Viva expecting glitz, glamour and sass, this will clearly not be the film you're expecting.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 2, 2021

Viva asks questions about whether people unite through bloodlines or out of necessity or for their own best interests and then it cheats on the answer.

| Jan 6, 2021

There is no greater pleasure for this critic than discovering a new film that's a sure shot to make my year-end Best Queer films list.

| Jun 10, 2020

[The] emotional outbursts feel genuine, necessary, even, but not forced.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 28, 2018

[It's] a tender coming-of-age film that envisions compassion in the most unlikely of pairings.

| Aug 23, 2018

At heart, Viva is an age old story about being true to oneself. But with its talented cast, stunning Cuban backdrop, and slowly enrapturing screenplay, it is one with a difference.

| Mar 28, 2018

While the film may be less than stellar in its main dramatic thrust, that doesn't detract from the stronger elements that make it well worth a watch.

| Mar 27, 2018

Although it was filmed in Havana with a cast of talented Cuban actors, almost everything about it seems premeditated and contrived.

| Mar 3, 2017

The contrasting but complementary performances of Medina and Garcia overcome the easily apparent outcome, while the location shooting in Havana provides an authentic ecosystem for the picture's tender travails.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 27, 2017

This is an absorbing film about transvestite singers in Havana, Cuba, and the troubled relationship between one of them and his ex-convict father. It features powerful stage performances and an intense off stage drama.

| Original Score: B | Jan 19, 2017

The universality of this small, truthful story is told so well means absolutely nothing in Viva is lost in translation.

| Dec 14, 2016

A fresh and fulfilling drama that, with its interesting proposal, truly stands out from commercial cinema. [Full review in Spanish]

| Nov 29, 2016

Sentimental and emotional film about an aspiring drag queen and his desire to fulfill his dream.

| Original Score: B- | Nov 19, 2016

It's like Billy Elliot taking a stroll in Havana. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 4, 2016

hile the story is one oft told, the moral never ceases to be true and Viva has a heart and spirit that makes it something lovely.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 22, 2016

Viva is less boy-meets-boy than boy-meets-himself.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 20, 2016

Viva certainly tugs on the heart strings but the slightly excessive running time detracts from the magic just a little bit, but it is definitely a film that should be seen.

| Aug 19, 2016

A story of self, gender, identity and family, Viva is an absolute gem worthy of raucous celebration.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 9, 2016

Even as the film's melodrama starts to lay on as thick as a La Lupe ballad, Medina's sensitive and luminous performance as a tarnished Latin angel who learns to spread his wings remains center stage, and rightly so. This young actor is good.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 16, 2016