Jambon, jambon

I approached Jamon Jamon with much anticipation, it was recommended by a close friend by whom it was described as an abstract, witty, satirical comedy; a film with ups, downs, and naked bull fights. I had to see this film. However, after an hour and half of sketchy performances, one-dimensional characters, and a barrage of farcical, poorly interwoven sub-plots, i found myself quite disappointed.

Jamon Jamon possesses all the components of what promises to be an entertaining movie: Quirky, abstract dialogue, offbeat humour, and dark yet comic scenarios. During the initial stages of the movie I felt engaged and involved, concerned about the young misguided couple, and the situation in which they find themselves. However as the film progresses seemingly irrelevant scenes of attempted quirkiness grow all too frequent. You get the distinct impression that Luna is simply attempting to emulate a directorial style established by his more experienced, capable predecessors. Not to discredit the movie to harshly. Luna is clearly able to produce scene's that are moving, profound, and original, there is simply insufficient character development so ultimately you begin to feel indifferent about the outcome of their predicaments.

In conclusion, Jamon Jamon is a noble failure, but a failure all the same. It has all the makings of a quality movie but is let down by it's composition, I feel it lacks a certain intimacy and distances the viewer in it's latter stages when we're meant to feel most involved. If you're a Luna's fan a recommend you see it, just don't get your hopes up to high.

Jamón, jamón is a dark, sexy, disturbing and very sarcastic romance, that mercilessly satirizes Spanish mentality and culture, though it can't in all honestly be labeled a comedy. It's no surprise that its most passionate advocates, as well as critics, are Spanish; but to the non-Spanish viewer, it's still an entertaining and captivating film. Unfortunately, it suffers from an amateurish execution that sometimes makes it feel more like a Spanish soap opera than a feature, and since the satire will go over many viewers' heads, the poor character development, melodramatic and unconvincing acting, and often mishandled cinematography may be quite off-putting. Director Bigas Luna clearly shares many passions and tastes with the more world-famous Pedro Almodóvar, but he can't match Almodóvar artistry and visual flair; the heavy-handed symbolism, quirky sexuality and scenes that are apparently weird for the sake of weird make it feel like an Almodóvar rip-off (which it's not) and make it harder to appreciate the stronger scenes and the biting satire.

For non-Spanish viewers, the film's main draw is getting to see Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem very early in their careers; while their top-billing position make it look like Stefania Sandrelli and Anna Galiena are the stars (probably because they were much bigger names in 1992) Cruz and Bardem are not only the real leads but also provide the film's best acting by far, so much so that whenever the scene cuts to one where neither one appears, the TV-soap feeling is suddenly much more pronounced - Sandrelli, Galiena and Jordi Mollà are ludicrously over-the-top, which is part of the point, but Cruz and Bardem manage to transcend that ludicrousness and their characters' flatness and are enough to make the film flow quite well. Fans of either one should definitely check it out; for them or for anyone else, it's a memorable and unusual film, worth your time, but very flawed and should not be approached with very high expectations.

Anyone who can laugh at and perversely admire the absurd spectacle of his or her own grotesquely bizarre and fragile (how small a step to go from ecstatic fulfilment to abuse, and gradual dissipation) sexuality, while actually having sex, can be said to have achieved the detachment necessary to maintain a certain controlled pitch of eroticism within its course, which, needless to add, can be quite stimulating and rewarding. Bigas Luna's handling of the sex scenes in `Jamon, Jamon' always makes that 'laughing-in-the-face- and-midst-of-sexuality-in-order-to-transcend-self-defeating-high-brow-or-

sentimental-hang-ups-with-raw-sometimes-moronic-but-more-often-volcanically -exquisite-lust' attitude fully implicit, and that's why they're especially steeped in a rare erotic tension that smolders. Like most great films, Luna's Venice-Silver-Lion-Winner tries to subvert and break down outmoded but deeply ingrained rituals and methods of communication within society that need to die in order to allow the 'not-so-sly but-not-exactly-explicit-and-heavy-handed-either' imposition of its own patterns as suggestions toward new thinking and new answers to take root.

Want to see a hilarious but serious satirical film that mixes and makes superior use of eroticism, surrealism, gross out scenes, and a fantastic music score ? Look no further than these 90 minutes. As far as I know the longest nose to nose lip kiss with a fly on the face of one of the kissers is in this film. Penelope Cruz in at least 4 sex scenes very generously breastfeeding two different and equally hungry lovers (one of whom happens to be this year's oscar nominated actor Javier Barden) is also in this film and should more than serve to turbocharge red-blooded male libidos. A very gross scene involving a very annoyed pig that comes close to being the only appearance of beastiality in an R-rated film is in this flick. And, oh yeah, in case I forget, the scene of the two guys bullfighting buck naked which puts a new spin on, and pays an homage of sorts to the famous schlong-dangling naked wrestling scene in Ken Russell's `Women in Love' is also in this crazy film. Liked it very much. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, especially for further seriously disturbing the mental imbalance of squeamish Americans used to Julia Roberts Soap Operas.

I wouldn't recommend Jamon Jamon to everyone I know, because the humour and the plot are idiosyncratic, to say the least. I regarded this films as a massive, but not at all serious, send-up of machismo and how it interacts with greed and lust. Above all, it is meant to make you laugh, rather than portray some profound message about the human condition. For example, although I can't speak for the Director, I suspect that the naked bullfight scene was simply meant to be absurd and make you laugh. Anyone who thinks it is pretentious has simply missed the point and is pretentious himself because he is reading things into the scene which are non-existent. Not everyone will find a scene like that funny but I personally was in stitches, as I was during the parrot scene, the ham fight scene and many other eminently unforgettable scenes. What I can't say in all honesty is that everybody else in the auditorium found it quite as funny as I did.

Jamon Jamon is a daft, grubby, and rather disappointing film out of Spain.

My advice straight off the bat is not to take this film too seriously; it's a quirky send up and OTT ironic social commentary. Think of it more as a comedy of errors style farce and you'll be in the right mood.

The film clearly sets out to be an arty satire, and though it is certainly oddball enough to qualify for the category that is not enough in itself to automatically label this film as brilliant - it really isn't.

The plot? Well, here goes . . . A young Spanish man is in a relationship with a young Spanish girl. She is pregnant, and they are to marry. His controlling and wealthy mother disapproves, and hires a would be bullfighter (and male underwear model) to seduce the girl and trash the relationship. The bullfighter, the girl and her boyfriend, a couple of mums, one dad, uncle Tom Cobley and all become embroiled in a tangle of relationships where just about everybody is copping off with everyone else.

This all plays out in a dusty Spanish backwater where, presumably, there's not much else to do. Weaving its way through the film is constant reference to pigs and ham. That opens the door to an obvious gag about the standard of acting, but I'll pass it up.

There's a fair dose of sex and nudity in the film, but none of it is sexy. It's all a bit grubby, in keeping with the locale and general downbeat vibe of the film. Theres also a liking for regularly showing pearls clattering to the floor; I've looked for a metaphor, but can't see one that makes the effort worthwhile.

None of the characters are likeable (unless you count the Golf gti and Yamaha 600 motorbike). Silvia (the young Spanish girl) is particularly annoying as she flits from man to man for no good reason other than her own pitifulness.

I generally warm to films that are quirky and dare to be different - but not this one. Perhaps because it doesn't go all the way and fully commit to being a completely satirical, completely comical or completely sexy film that it leaves my glass very much half empty.

It's full of cultural references, it's unconventional, it's over the top and absurd - I get all that. But ultimately, it is not half as clever as it tries to be. It's all just a bit naff.