Laura and Carlos are young, immature, in love and in lust for each other. This film shows several months of their life. I believe the films intention was to show how two young people maturing at different rates eventually are doomed to separate at the behest of the more mature person. I also think the dialog fell a little short of delivering that message. Short of having a narration by one or both of the characters, their conversations are the best way to gauge what they are thinking. Their actions being a secondary indicator.
Their relationship came to and end starting one fateful evening as they partied with a large group of other young people. Laura had matured a bit and seemed happy with herself and Carlos. She introduced him to a group of girls saying "This is my boyfriend Carlos." She was proud of the fact and the relationship. He on the other-hand was still immaturely upset, jealous and controlling of her. He stormed out of the party and she dutifully followed to some obscure location where they had sex. The immature Carlos should be content that he got his way but he escalates his need to control Laura by threatening and then calling for "a break" in their relationship "to get perspective." She is surprised. They go separate ways which for her was back to the party. She makes a date to go out with El Moro, a local well-known ladies-man. When Laura and Carlos cross paths much later in the evening he finds out about her plans. He obviously sees the error in his ways, but she is not persuaded to cancel her plans. This would be a good time for some narration on Laura's part to know for certain what she was thinking. Is she trying to break up with Carlos? Does she just want the experience of a night with El Moro and stupid Carlos gave her an out to do it? Is she just angry and wants to punish Carlos in the worst way? They were supposed to be "on a break" not "broken up", but that is a much used misunderstanding in movies and television.
We proceed to the date night. Carlos has been informed by friends that El Moro has a standard operation to get his girls into bed. He gives them a midnight tour of a museum he has access to which ends in the room with "The King's Bed" where he has sex with them. We later find Carlos outside the building screaming to Laura who is partial clothed in "The Kings Bed" with El Moro. It is insinuated they have not yet had sex but possibly. They both go to the window and look down as Carlos screams, cries and takes a fetal position down below them. Carlos then calls police to report a bomb has been placed under "The Kings Bed" and it will immanently explode. We do not see what Laura and Carlos are doing at that time and they know nothing of the phone call. Carlos has demonstrated his absolute lack of any maturity. The scene soon changes to the police station where they all sit looking down with no conversation. How this all played out is left to our imagination.
It is three weeks later and Laura has come to see Carlos for a better ending to their relationship (which is a mature thing to do.) His mother reports he has not left his room in those weeks (which is an immature act.) She indicates they are finished as a couple and starts to tell of her near and future plans for life. After being asked three times, she admits to having sex and an orgasm with El Moro. "I think I did it just to break us up." she says. We finally know what she says her motivation was, but was it true? There was a large ladies room scene where all the girls are comparing notes on the local guys. I think Laura knew the plan El Moro had and was into it for carnal reasons. She stood at the window watching her boyfriend cry in a fetal position below and still returned to "The Kings Bed" for sex. She offers Carlos a "friends with benefits" relationship by saying he can have her anytime he wants her. He instantly says he wants her now which she agrees to do. She seems surprised so perhaps she has not matured quite enough to understand what most men will say when you offer them sex. I will not try to insert any thoughts on maturity levels here. They disrobe and Carlos starts to unwrap a condom. She says "I'm on the pill." Carlos replies "I don't want to catch anything" apparently thinking that since Laura has been with the biggest womanizer in town that she is no long assumed safe from STD's. (Let me pause to point out what a logical and mature act that Carlos has finally performed. It is about time it occurred.) Laura shows no sign of being upset apparently realizing that she has been reckless in that regard just as insinuated. They engage in sexual intercourse, but it is more calm, purposeful, thoughtful, etc.(possibly more mature?) than their previous encounters. Is there hope for them to possibly start fresh in their relationship she says to him while they "make love?" He stops having sex abruptly. She starts to softly cry and asks that he not forget her. OK, I need some more dialog here! She is looking for a way back and he is indicating refusal. This movie just did a 180 degree turn with about 3 minutes left. It should be him wanting and her refusing. I don't quite get it and the dialog between these two is not helping. And then it's The End.
Most of what I have stated here is my just my humble opinion based on the actions and dialog. Would it have been better to have a running narration to understand their thoughts. Frankly I do not think so. The lack of certainty is part of growing up. Not knowing what the person of your dreams is thinking is part of the process. A narration would have been as big of a distraction as cartoon balloons appearing above the heads of the characters to describe their thoughts. It is true that some of the dialog just fell short to me. Especially in the last minutes.
I would like to briefly explore that one element of a movie that so obviously rotates around a sexual young couple. Sex scenes are probably necessary even for those who primarily come for the romance. They are obviously needed for those who only tolerate the romance to get to the sex. This movie seemed to fall into that middle territory that I can only describe as "I know it when I see it." My evidence of that claim can also be based on the sex scene that was not included in the movie. That is the scene of Laura and El Moro in the museum. The fact that we did not see Laura screaming with delight while El Moro pleased her in ways the young boyfriend, huddled in a fetal position down below the window, can only imagine... was not included in this work. Perhaps it ended up on the cutting room floor, if indeed it was ever considered. There were three opportunities to place it in the film. It could have been in real time, a bad dream the boyfriend had later or a flashback Laura had later as the boyfriend quizzed her about "Did you have sex? Did you have an orgasm?" That missing opportunity at eroticism is quite clear evidence that this work was for arts sake. Much like the boyfriend Carlos, we only got to see what happened in "The Kings Bed" in our imagination. No "erotic" work of fiction would have missed that scene. It was good to be left that way.
Their relationship came to and end starting one fateful evening as they partied with a large group of other young people. Laura had matured a bit and seemed happy with herself and Carlos. She introduced him to a group of girls saying "This is my boyfriend Carlos." She was proud of the fact and the relationship. He on the other-hand was still immaturely upset, jealous and controlling of her. He stormed out of the party and she dutifully followed to some obscure location where they had sex. The immature Carlos should be content that he got his way but he escalates his need to control Laura by threatening and then calling for "a break" in their relationship "to get perspective." She is surprised. They go separate ways which for her was back to the party. She makes a date to go out with El Moro, a local well-known ladies-man. When Laura and Carlos cross paths much later in the evening he finds out about her plans. He obviously sees the error in his ways, but she is not persuaded to cancel her plans. This would be a good time for some narration on Laura's part to know for certain what she was thinking. Is she trying to break up with Carlos? Does she just want the experience of a night with El Moro and stupid Carlos gave her an out to do it? Is she just angry and wants to punish Carlos in the worst way? They were supposed to be "on a break" not "broken up", but that is a much used misunderstanding in movies and television.
We proceed to the date night. Carlos has been informed by friends that El Moro has a standard operation to get his girls into bed. He gives them a midnight tour of a museum he has access to which ends in the room with "The King's Bed" where he has sex with them. We later find Carlos outside the building screaming to Laura who is partial clothed in "The Kings Bed" with El Moro. It is insinuated they have not yet had sex but possibly. They both go to the window and look down as Carlos screams, cries and takes a fetal position down below them. Carlos then calls police to report a bomb has been placed under "The Kings Bed" and it will immanently explode. We do not see what Laura and Carlos are doing at that time and they know nothing of the phone call. Carlos has demonstrated his absolute lack of any maturity. The scene soon changes to the police station where they all sit looking down with no conversation. How this all played out is left to our imagination.
It is three weeks later and Laura has come to see Carlos for a better ending to their relationship (which is a mature thing to do.) His mother reports he has not left his room in those weeks (which is an immature act.) She indicates they are finished as a couple and starts to tell of her near and future plans for life. After being asked three times, she admits to having sex and an orgasm with El Moro. "I think I did it just to break us up." she says. We finally know what she says her motivation was, but was it true? There was a large ladies room scene where all the girls are comparing notes on the local guys. I think Laura knew the plan El Moro had and was into it for carnal reasons. She stood at the window watching her boyfriend cry in a fetal position below and still returned to "The Kings Bed" for sex. She offers Carlos a "friends with benefits" relationship by saying he can have her anytime he wants her. He instantly says he wants her now which she agrees to do. She seems surprised so perhaps she has not matured quite enough to understand what most men will say when you offer them sex. I will not try to insert any thoughts on maturity levels here. They disrobe and Carlos starts to unwrap a condom. She says "I'm on the pill." Carlos replies "I don't want to catch anything" apparently thinking that since Laura has been with the biggest womanizer in town that she is no long assumed safe from STD's. (Let me pause to point out what a logical and mature act that Carlos has finally performed. It is about time it occurred.) Laura shows no sign of being upset apparently realizing that she has been reckless in that regard just as insinuated. They engage in sexual intercourse, but it is more calm, purposeful, thoughtful, etc.(possibly more mature?) than their previous encounters. Is there hope for them to possibly start fresh in their relationship she says to him while they "make love?" He stops having sex abruptly. She starts to softly cry and asks that he not forget her. OK, I need some more dialog here! She is looking for a way back and he is indicating refusal. This movie just did a 180 degree turn with about 3 minutes left. It should be him wanting and her refusing. I don't quite get it and the dialog between these two is not helping. And then it's The End.
Most of what I have stated here is my just my humble opinion based on the actions and dialog. Would it have been better to have a running narration to understand their thoughts. Frankly I do not think so. The lack of certainty is part of growing up. Not knowing what the person of your dreams is thinking is part of the process. A narration would have been as big of a distraction as cartoon balloons appearing above the heads of the characters to describe their thoughts. It is true that some of the dialog just fell short to me. Especially in the last minutes.
I would like to briefly explore that one element of a movie that so obviously rotates around a sexual young couple. Sex scenes are probably necessary even for those who primarily come for the romance. They are obviously needed for those who only tolerate the romance to get to the sex. This movie seemed to fall into that middle territory that I can only describe as "I know it when I see it." My evidence of that claim can also be based on the sex scene that was not included in the movie. That is the scene of Laura and El Moro in the museum. The fact that we did not see Laura screaming with delight while El Moro pleased her in ways the young boyfriend, huddled in a fetal position down below the window, can only imagine... was not included in this work. Perhaps it ended up on the cutting room floor, if indeed it was ever considered. There were three opportunities to place it in the film. It could have been in real time, a bad dream the boyfriend had later or a flashback Laura had later as the boyfriend quizzed her about "Did you have sex? Did you have an orgasm?" That missing opportunity at eroticism is quite clear evidence that this work was for arts sake. Much like the boyfriend Carlos, we only got to see what happened in "The Kings Bed" in our imagination. No "erotic" work of fiction would have missed that scene. It was good to be left that way.