7 Days in Havana (NC)

Seven short films, each by a different director, on the magical variety of Cuba's capital.

Things start promisingly with Benicio del Toro's amusing vignette of an American actor (Josh Hutcherson) sampling the Havana nightlife and not being able to see straight, in any sense. In the next film, Emir Kusturica visits the Havana Film Festival, drinks too much and finds fellowship with a local cab driver who's also a brilliant jazz trumpeter. The rest are a hit-and-miss salad of soppy romance, mysticism and religious fervour, not without a ragged charm but never likely to set the pulse racing. Havana itself, in the starring role, looks like a worn-out matinee idol.