Macho

Lots of rather drrunken partying and explicit sexual activity do not disguise the fact that Golden Balls tells a sad story. Bardem, as Benito the young construction worker consumed with ambitions, aspiration, and sexual desire, is very fine. I would give him most of the credit for making this an interesting film, but Bigas Luna, the director, shows great skill in his handling of Benito's tangled relationships with three women and his slick maneuvering to gain financing for his consuming desire to build the tallest skyscraper in the city. Benito scores success in business and with his women, but in the end meets his downfall, losing money and prestige as his shoddy building practices are exposed. Even worse, it is made clear to him that he is not as good in bed as his gardener, Bob, played by Benicio del Toro in what is little more than a cameo but very convincing.

Either you like Bigas Luna, or you don't. Huevos de Oro is the middle picture in his trilogy of weird romance films, the other two being the more noted Jamon Jamon and the truly bizarre La Teta y La Luna. All films have breast-obsessed Spanish macho men, sexy young women, love starved 40-ish women, love triangles wrapped around the oddest plots, and the most eyebrow raising sex conversations. All of these films seem to parody the Javier Bardem Spanish macho man character and how he is ultimately ruled by his libido. (The same can be said for most males).

Luna as a director introduced to me to three spectacular, stunning actresses in his films, namely Maria de Mederios, the now famous Penelope Cruz and Mathilda May. He also uses recent Oscar nominee Javier Bardem with great frequency.

In this film, there is a loose plot of a man (Bardem) who wishes to obtain financing for his construction business, and marries a woman he does not love (the wide-eyed Maria de Medieros) in the process. He maintains his passionate relationship with his first and true love, and ultimately gets entangled in his own romantic web. He never gives up his juggling act, until the three main characters come face to face.

What Luna does as a director is take these simple plots and wrap wonderfully strange characters with bizarre obsessions and mannerisms.

This movie has lots of passion, sex, conversation, and twisted romance, all bundled into an enjoyable and unique film. Many will be offended by Luna's unabashed approach to film-making, but this is still a fresh and unique picture. I recommend the three in this series highly. I can not guarantee you will like them, but I can guarantee that you will remember them. ***1/2

out of ****.

If the darkly comic tone of this film strikes you as a bit odd for what on the surface is a straight forward young-man-on-the-make drama, welcome to the world of Bigas Luna. What this is really is a satire on supposed masculine virtues in Latino culture. The main character, a wannabe real estate mogul played by Javier Bardem, throughout the film achieves material ambitions and rising to dominate others in classic alpha dog fashion, yet his victories seem hollow and shallow. This is all intended, but Luna was not aiming to create a morality play here. He just wanted to take cheap shots at talentless hacks who succeed on sheer chutzpah, and at cultures who lionize them for their successes however achieved. The main character could have been any ambitious rhymes-with-Rick in any field. One gets the idea that he might even have been based on somebody Luna knew from the film business...

This film is Spanish. This statement is not as obvious as you might think. Bigas Luna makes films so rich in Spanish cultural references that it is true that without previous knowledge, or better yet experience, of Spain then much of the film's charm will be lost. He parodies the stereotypes of spanish culture- the macho male most obviously, but there are numerous others- in such a way that anyone who accuses the characters of being over the top and unbelievable would very nearly be fully justified, if it wasn't that they are so instantly recognizable. Javier Bardem's character has wonderfully kitsch taste, most notably his attire and the obsession he has with Salvador Dali (to the point of outlining the famous 'drawers' across the bodies of all the women in his life). This goes a long way to creating the visual style which is somehow spot on for the mediterranean coast. The story itself is quite touching in the end, as a man of great passion and ambition rises from having nothing to having all he desires before the inexorable decent commences. There is much symbolism in this film for those who enjoy it. For example Bardem aims to erect the tallest building in town, yet as it fails and crumbles, so does his sexual potency. This film is admittedly an aquired taste, not for people who thrive on the tried and tested Hollywood formulae, unless they are willing to explore into the exotic and foreign world of Bigas Luna.

So, announces the DVD. But, this was a disappointing film. Not particularly bad but definitely not that good. Rather more crude and MTV video-like than the more subtle and masterful Jamon Jamon.

None of the characters are likable, the lovely Penelope Cruz of Bigas Luna's first film replaced by vacuous supermodels (in comparison, maybe they are great actresses) and it all reads like a tawdry and cheap paperback that you'd pick up at motorway service station.

Which, maybe is how Luna wanted it. Maybe he really is that repelled by the capitalist, nouveau-riche alpha male who believes his 'balls' not only rule his life but everybody else's, too. I know I am, and most people would be, too. Asked why Javier Bardem's lead character is sporting two gold Rolex's, he announces back "I have two balls, so I have two Rolex's".

Artistically there is little merit to this film, but it is about overblown, over-macho stereotypes and how they think they can walk over everybody. There are nods to Dali (the nude with ants over her pubic region is an extreme example) and there are more phallic insinuations in Goldenballs than any other film I know of. From Gonzalez (Bardem) Towers, intended to be the tallest tower on the Med, in which Luna loosely stretches a fabric of some kind of story around, with his dodgy dealings and cost-cutting.

Like, possibly his Tower, Gonzalez, and his potent sexual erections, does come a cropper, which is of some redemption, admittedly, but not enough to save the film. There's an early role for Benecio del Torro as the Miami-set gardener who happens to do more than service the sprinkler....

What finally made me only award two stars was the poor DVD quality. It's of video standard, plain and simple.

I bought Goldenballs as I wanted the three films in Luna's 'Iberian passion' trilogy, of which it is the middle. I'm seriously hoping that the final part, 'The Tit and the Moon' is an improvement.