Calle 54

Not to mince words, but director Fernando Trueba's tribute to Latin jazz is right up there with the best music films ever made, a worthy successor to THE LAST WALTZ or STOP MAKING SENSE. The format is simple: Concert footage shot in the intimate confines of a small soundstage, interspersed with brief and usually amusing documentary snippets that put the music and performers in cultural and artistic context. The performances themselves are a succession of small miracles, from Chano Dominguez's electrifying fusion of Thelonius Monk and flamenco to the late Tito Puente gleefully mugging his way through the rhythmic complexities of an irrepressible instrumental suite w...