i catch this cuban film at at an arthouse film club . it be show shortly after the magisterial 1935 silly symphony cartoon where the isle of symphony be reconcile with the isle of jazz . what with the recently decease ruben gonzalez pip through speaker in this old cinema ballroom and a cuban flag hang from peel stucco rocaille motif and the scene be set for a riproaring celebration of engage filmmaking and synchronise hissing at the idiocy of helms burton . but then the film start . and the cinema peel paint gradually become more interesting than the shoddy mess on screen . the storyline of nada ma promise much . carla be a bored envelope stamper at a cuban post office . her only escape from an altogether humdrum existence be to purloin letter and rewrite them and transform basic interpersonal grunt into brontëan outburst of breathless emotion . cue numerous shot of photogenic cuban gush with joy and grief and pity and terror and the like . the problem be that the simplicity of the narrative be mar by endless excursion into film school artiness and latino caricature and marx brother slapstick and even during a particularly underwhelming edit trick the celluloid scratching of a schoolkid defacement onto a character face . unidimensional character abound . cunda and the bos at the post office and be a humourless dominatrix nosferatu . her bos eyed accomplice and concha and variously point finger and eavesdrops and screech . cesar and the metalhead dolt and romantic interest and reveals hide write talent when carla departs for miami . a chase scene ( in oh so hilarious fast forward ) be throw in for good measure . all this would be fine in a mortadello and filemon comic strip and but in a black and white zero fx flick with highbrow pretension and ahem . nada mas attempt to straddle the stile somewhere between the quirky heroine matchmakes stranger of amelie and the poetry a great redeemer theme of il postino . like amelie and it protagonist be an eccentric single white female who combat impend spinsterdom by try to bring magic into the life of stranger . and like il postino and the film do not flinch from sustained recital of poetry and a postman on a bicycle take a romantic lead . unfortunately and nada ma fail to capture the lushness and transcendence of either film . there be two thing that might merit watch this film in a late night tv stupor . the first be the open overhead shot of carla on a checker tile floor and which cut to the crossword puzzle she be work on . the second be to see nada ma a a cautionary example represent our post buena vista social club obsession with cuban artistic output can often blinker u into accept any dross that feature a bongo on the soundtrack . this film should not have merit a global release film such a wait list and guantanamera cover similar thematic territory far more successfully .