Little Ashes

Were Federico Garcia Lorca and Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel all hanging out at the university together in the early 20s in a Spain racked with civil war? Probably and Little Ashes chronicles that artistic and emotional alliance.
Little Ashes takes some liberties no doubt although a sexual liaison between Lorca and Dali has been put forth in at least one biography of that period's cultural icons. In the film Bunuel is portrayed practically as a homophobe such is his malevolent reaction to finding out about his buddy's peccadilloes.
But the film never draws the viewer in emotionally to the tale. The result provides a cold depiction of the turbulent era and the lives of the artists depicted. Parts of the film lag under the strain of believable drama. Female characters that would have fleshed out the drama are only portrayed as thin caricatures. The main reason Little Ashes has gotten a belated theatrical release is because Robert Pattinson plays Dali. Pattinson (if you don't know he's the biggest current sex symbol due to his role in Twilight and its upcoming sequel New Moon) proves to be the weakest link in Little Ashes.
You know that cliche picture of an older Dali with one raised eyebrow and a mad and surreal glow on his face. Well Pattinson does that look but that's the extent of his acting. While the rest of the cast speaks the dialogue in English with Spanish accents Pattinson has no accent to speak of.
Still the film holds fascination to those devoted to Lorca, Dali or Bunuel. Lorca's poems are heard (read in Spanish) and bits of Bunuel's first film Un Chien Andalou are seen in one sequence that relates how that film was inspired, or repulsed, by Lorca's behavior. (Remember when MTV used to run a short edited version of Un Chien Andalou that was colorized?) Overall it's a chore to sit through Little Ashes unless you're versed in these artists.