Carne de neón

Dramatic film with comedy elements and attractive, charming characters. Pura : Angela Molina, just released from prlson. A simple fact that changes the whole existence of Ricky : Mario Casas, who attempts to please his mother Pura. In a desperate attempt to show an ordinary life he becomes a businessman by trying to create a brothel house to be attended by his mother. Then he joins a group of underdog as well as useless colleagues and prostitutes, such as : a tiny crook : Vicente Romero, his bouncer henchman : Luciano Caceres, a Junkie: Macarena Gomez, a pregnant immigrant : Vanessa Oliveira, and a transvestite called La Infantita : Damaso Conde. Along the way Ricky has to contend a dangerous mobster nicknamed Chino : Dario Grandinetti and a kidnapping of the daughter : Blanca Suarez of a corrupt police inspector : Antonio de la Torre with whom Chino seeks vengeance.

Intense and sleaze drama with emotion, thrills, gross-out scenes and violence. The picture benefits itself from sympathetic though unfortunate characters who suffer distresses, mistreating and pains. Stars Mario Casas giving an acceptable acting in his usual style as the young hustler-turned-entrepreneur who joins some botcher buddies attempting to open a brothel by hoping to earn his mother's respect, being well interpreted by the veteran Angela Molina. Accompanied by a large support cast delivering nice performances such as Vicente Romero, Blanca, Suarez, Antonio de la Torre, Luciano Caceres and Dario Grandinetti as an extremely villain role as gangster Chino. This film is based on the Short titled Carne de Neon (2005) also directed by Paco Cabezas with Oscar Jaenada, Victoria Abril and Vicente Romero, Macarena Gomez repeating roles.

It contains a brilliant and adequate cinematography by Daniel Aranyo, shot in Spain and Buenos Aires Argentine. As well as moving and catching musical score by Daniel Araujo and Javier de la Rosa. The motion picture was well made by Paco Cabezas and it was nominee in Toulouse Festival 2011 to best director . His first successful film was Aparecidos, and directing this Neon Flesh to be loved by Nicolas Cage who hired him to make a Hollywood film, Tokarev . There Cabezas made another hit : Mr Right. Subsequently he made various TV episodes from famous TV series as Penny Dreadful, American gods, The strain, Fear of the walking dead, Penny Dreadful : city of Los Angeles, among others. Rating :6.5/10. Decent Spanish film that will appeal to Mario Casas fans.

Ricky, a young man who has grown up in the streets, wants to re-open the old Hiroshima Club (a brothel) with his two close friends in order that his mother, who has just been released from jail, will find a place where to work. Seems a rather simple idea, but enter writer/director Paco Cabezas and this 'comedy' becomes a rather raunchy bloodbath of poor taste saved only by the performances of a group of really talented actors!

To summarize the rather directionless story, try the following: 'Ricky (Mario Casas , a young charismatic Spanish actor who makes this story work) was abandoned at age 12 by his prostitute mother, Pura (Angela Molina). He lives the life of a street boy with help from pimp Angelito (Vicente Romero) and his junkie girl friend Scrag (Macarena Gomez); Angelito's hulking, simple-minded associate, El Niño (Luciano Caceres, another triumph of a performance); and transvestite La Infantita (Damaso Conde) who is trying to make money for a transgender surgery. Ricky is saving up to open a brothel as a gift for Pura when she gets out of jail -- a dangerous move, since they would be encroaching on the territory of tough guy El Chino (Dario Grandinetti). Ricky and Angelito (with some help from buy three Eastern European women for the club: it's suggested they're saving the girls from something worse. Sadly for Ricky, when Pura is released from jail, she's in the early stages of Alzheimer's and can't remember who he is. El Chino gives Ricky a week to raise a huge sum of payoff money for encroaching on his territory. The second half turns on his attempt to raise the cash, involving the kidnapping of Veronica (Blanca Suarez), the teenage daughter of corrupt police inspector Santos (Antonio de la Torre). There is a face-off at the end and it is surprising who survives!

Nearly all of the characters are sympathetic with Ricky, Angelito and the Kid forming an oddly appealing trio. There are many subplots - El Niño falls for a pregnant captive Irina (María Zamarbide ) who upon having her baby bonds with El Niño despite the fact that the baby is put up for sale on the black market while under the loving care of La Infantita, is an example - but in the end this is a rasty, at times funny but at other times crude and distasteful, self indulgent movie from Spain, saved (thankfully) by a super cast of actors! In Spanish with English subtitles. Grady Harp, March 12

First things first: The cinematography in this is really amazing. Great lighting, great framing, very well done. Someone has studied their thrillers very thoroughly and made good notes on how to be inspired by them. I also have to point out, that the story is trying to be socially relevant. Not with too much weight on the morality though. Or not in the way most viewers are used to.

The movie does not have (m)any likable character in it. Starting with our "hero", his best friend and the rest of the bunch. But even within that group it tries to create diversity. Give characters more than one facet. I use the word try, because I don't think it fully succeeds in most of its attempts. You can still get excited by it (as one reviewer here has shown and good for him/her), but you have seen far better movies than that. Or at least I hope you have.

Talk about misogyny can easily be brought up with this movie. While it is not afraid to touch hot topics (human trafficking being another one amongst many), the characters never seem to do the right thing. If that offends you, you most definitely won't like the movie. The twists are predictable and you have to decide on your own, if that's the way you'd say thanks to your mom. In the end, the movie tried to put too many things together and might even fail many with its attempt to solve things with its (bad?) humor

The first time that I saw that this movie only had a 5.something in IMDb I thought "maybe is not a good idea" but I gave it a chance and... WOW! Its funny (Sometimes dark, violently funny)thrilling, its been long, maybe since "Fargo" that a movie amazed me this much, the mix of genres is outstanding, it starts with comedy, shifts to thriller and finally to a drama.

The characters are so funny and fragile (Even though sometimes they do terrible things) but thats one of the things that I liked the most, the movie is challenging, you never know where the director is gonna take you and is always surprising. The actors are great, specially Vicente Romero and Angela Molina, they steal the movie.

By the way the ending is one of the best endings I've ever seen, so moving... A great film about bad guys with a huge heart, a must see!

With outstanding visual effects that are not shy in trying to reveal the influence of Guy Ritchie's filmography, "Carne de Neon" is a brilliant film that, contrary to the tedious Spanish film industry, does not intend to tackle moral lessons within the overused context of the Civil War. Abounding with graphic scenes that are typical of any gangster movie,Paco Cabeza's tour de force consists of an almost impossible skill to combine irreconcilable ingredients, in a story in which each character has his/her own inner contradictions. For example: Ricky keeps a very cold, detached attitude towards the sad situation of the prostitutes, and however, he is capable of anything in order to win back his mom's recognition; Angelito's tough superficial behavior melts down when he is in front of his dog, Rocco, or when he thinks he can kill his long-time partner/prostitute/heroin addict, Canija; El Niño (the Kid)'s physical brutality gives way to a deep tenderness when he falls in love with the African immigrant. Full of dark humor,action, and suspense, the film entertains while it also reflects on the shady universe of Eastern mafias, human traffic, illegal immigration,drugs, prostitution, and corruption. Wonderfully crafted script in which everything seems to obey some kind of poetic justice by which, after so many chaotic events, the ending resolution fits in accordingly. Surprisingly, Cabezas succeeds to make the starring actor, Spanish teenage fans' idol Mario Casas, blend perfectly with the rest of the cast without seeming out of place or eclipsing the others. While the whole cast's work is remarkable, Damaso Conde clearly stole the show as the transvestite Infantita (Pricess), providing such a virulent environment with a balancing comic relief.