Yo soy la Juani

Previously I'd only seen a couple of Bigas Luna's movies. His "Yo soy la Juani" ("My Name Is Juani" in English) was his second-to-last movie, focusing on a girl and her friend who leave their dismal existence and loser boyfriends in a small town and head to the big city to find their fortune. This is one movie that truly evokes its era, with a pulse-pounding soundtrack and a couple of fast montages. No shortage of sex, either.

I wouldn't call this Bigas's best movie that I've seen; I thought "Jamón jamón" and "Golden Balls" were more profound in dealing with gender issues in Spain. Even so, it's a brisk look at Spain's youth in the aughts and gives one a sense of the culture. So far, every Bigas movie that I've seen has been worth checking out.

PS: Bigas Luna's full name is José Bigas Luna, so he should get listed under Bigas per the Spanish naming system.

It seems that the writers of the previous comments are missing the point. This is a European movie: it means that you should not expect action karate , no chemical attack on the white house and no drug dealers shooting helicopters with smuggled missiles from Kazakhstan.

This movie is all about feelings. Since the very first minute you are plunged in the world of Juani, a young and determined Spanish adolescent from the suburbs of a southern city in Spain, looking for a better future. The story shows the reality of youths expectations and disillusions.

The powerful soundtrack, mixing Hispanic hip-hop with traditional flamenco songs, will transport you in the world of "La Juani".

Enjoy

Did I just watch the movie too stoned or was I the only one here who noticed the brilliance of Luna's collage narration excitingly wrapped around the "typical plot"? But the stereotypes and the plot cliches that bother you are so real and brought to us intensely, with the fullness of youth energy, and soundtrack that follows it. For example, I really like the crazy transitions from one scene to another (dance floor - guys chasing them on the street, for example), and the pop-techno quality of dream/imagination sequences. It's like...the perfect pop!

I agree with some of the comments here: the narrative structure doesn't develop La Juani's character completely, there is not a character arch, Juani doesn't change that much, the movie ends too soon, the plot line is not great, there are no really big events on Juani's life,... but I think all this light plotting was done on purpose, to grasp Juanis reality better. In one's real life there are not that many events.

Anyway, the acting is amazing, and la Juani is alive, full of truth and emotion... the movie has impressed me a lot.

It's been a long time without finding myself moved by a movie. But with all it's mistakes La Juani has done it. You can tell how some people's life really is, for example, all those young Hispanic girls coming from Southamerica to leave in Spain working in houses taking care of kids. It could have been better in some aspects... but still its good.

This film is actually quite bad. Perhaps the only thing I would save it's the OST.. and also I have to say that some things are not easy to understand if u don't know a bit of the ambient where it was actually filmed. I mean, being Spanish helps for that, and of course I guess there is no translation but for the subtitles but.. To sum up, do not waiste your time or money guys. The story is nothing new, this girl discovers the boyfriend cheating on her so she decides to move with her best friend to the big city, where, I have to say, things are not always like they pretend in the film. Actually nothing really happens in there, I mean, there is no exciting story at all . Regarding the actors, the guy is well known in Spain as he is leading a pop band extremely popular with teenagers, and she is a complete unknown-