Jamon Jamon

This is the first movie-that I know of -where everyone sleeps with everyone(with tragic consequences.) José Louis loves Silvia, but his mother, unhappy with this relationship, asks Raúl to seduce Silvia while she,in turn, seduces Raúl. José Luis is having affair with Carmen,the mother of Silvia, while Silvia ends up in the embrace of her future father-in-law.

I loved the introductory speech that gave us a sense of what to expect from the movie. Even though it is 30 years old the symbology and themes are still a part of our every day lives. A must see movie!

E n j o y a b l e t a l e.

Had to turn the movie off when not only her boyfriend was forcing himself on her repeatedly, but also the guy that was harassing her nonstop in the most demeaning ways starts being a love interest of hers. This movie is not only full of toxic masculinity but also female characters obviously written by a man.

By now a classic, though many moments in the film are not so convincing.

All I can say is that if this is anything to go by, then the Spanish sense of humour is very different to mine. There are some great performances in the film, in fact, the whole cast (lead by Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem) are very good but my, is this an odd film. It's a bizarre tale of sex, jealousy and pork that I think has a potentially good, if twisted plot hidden in there. Sadly, this just doesn't shine through and many of the scenes are jarring and unnatural. The convoluted plot of the love triangles that exist between two families, one wealthy, one poor has some very dark and twisted moments and some that are completely unexplored. I can't, for example, for the life of me fathom why Bardem and his best friend feel it necessary to go an fight a bull naked in the middle of the night. It's a scene that just seems plonked in the middle oft he action with no real consequence. Maybe I'm missing the point but I'm afraid Jamón Jamón didn't really do much for me and certainly didn't make me laugh enough.

Review In A Nutshell: I was browsing through the library and I happen to stumble upon Bigas Luna's Jamon Jamon. The decision to give this film a watch was due to the fact that I wanted to be spontaneous and wanted to expand my mind to uncharted areas of cinema. Jamon Jamon is a blend of many tones and wraps it around a tale of love, social class, and vulnerability. With every scene, one cannot predict on how the characters would react, as the film plays around with them and shows aspects of these characters that are unusually interesting. The characters driven by their sexual desires and impulses with contributing factors of social class and ambition that makes each one feel different from one another. The plot itself is melodramatic, and the Bigas' execution and the performances of his cast promotes this, leaving me at times cringing or sighing, but every once in a while he manages to surprise me with minor character development and raw magnetism from the film's cast. Jamon Jamon does not try to be luscious or sexually intimidating, instead it plays around with it, adding a comedic element to the character's reactions that keeps it from being overly serious or dramatic; which is why I find this film hilarious that when physical intimacy is not shown on screen, the film becomes operatic, but when it does start to get steamy, it manages to become funnily natural. A central issue that I had with this film is the plot's lack of direction, not exactly knowing on what it is trying to say. Luna gives the material layers of symbolism and profound ideas but it gets lost in the fundamental narrative, leaving me only engaged with the superficial aspects of the film. The film's ending becomes dramatic to the point where one cannot empathise with the relationships portrayed on screen, but it never reached to a level of being frustrating. Jamon Jamon marks the debut of the now-acclaimed Spanish actress Penelope Cruz. She was the perfect fit as this woman who is desirable and beautiful but she allows the character to not get lost in her physical sexuality; emotions and intelligence were fleshed out, allowing the decisions that she makes feel plausible. I found her performance to be brave, especially when it comes to the sexual aspects of the film, as it is clear that she is game for it and performs these scenes without boasting her own physical attractiveness; she keeps herself within the role and works hard to maintain strong emotional chemistry with her male partners. Javier Bardem, playing a man who is hired to seduce Cruz's character, was fine in the role but I have seen roles from him that are far more complex and through those he shows unrestrained dedication, while here he manages to scrape by with his inherent sexuality and does enough with it to keep his performance from feeling too stale. Jamon Jamon was a challenging film, even if its storyline is cliché and melodramatically executed, as it manages to provide thought provoking imagery and situations, though it doesn't quite justify itself by the end, and supported by the astonishing leading performance from Penelope Cruz.

A fun and enjoyable flick. Ham, cheating, underwear, pigs and tits are keywords and it's a plesant mix. It's off-beat and like few other films. It's pretty messy where everyone is involved in everyone in a way. It develops pretty good, and even if it's never laugh out loud funny, it's a pretty smart and stylish comedy. Surreal, charming and very sexy at the same time, one of the hottest scene I've seen takes place one hour in or so in the film. There are other quite remarkable and absurd scenes here, but I guess I won't give them away. This is one of Bardem's first flicks and Cruz's first full lenght-feature. Their first meeting and one of two films they share screen time. 7.5 out of 10 bull balls.

Las clases sociales, el sexo y la comida son elementos presentes en Jamón Jamón, un clásico de Bigas Lunas. Con las actuaciones de Javier Bardem como Raúl y Penélope Cruz como Silivia. José Luis es novio de Silvia. El es hijo de unos padres ricos, dueños de una empresa de ropa interior en la cual trabaja Silvia, una chica humilde, de madre prostituta Silvia se quedará embarazada y la madre de Jose Luis quiere romper el noviazgo para lo cual contrata a Raúl un modelo de ropa interior y artesano jamonero para que enamore a Silvia.

Mah. The story wasn't that interesting, and also the director tried to focalize the attention of the watcher on some particulars that would like to be artistic, but that are just unintersting and totally useless to the filming and to wath's happening. The only part that partially saves the movie, is Javier Bardem's character, so rude that it was impossible to do it worst. And Penelope Cruz, of course.