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40 out of 45 people found the following review useful: You don't have to be Spanish..., 18 October 2004 Author: Chris Bright from London
...to get this movie but it surely helps.It's a bit sad to see so many reviews which so totally miss the point, and none of them from Spain. One negative reviewer even thought the film was set in Mexico which goes to show how much attention he was paying.This film is a satire on various aspects of Spanish culture and character, primarily machismo and sexual hypocrisy, but taking in culinary preferences, attitudes to animals and those surreal brandy adverts in the shape of bulls that any visitor to Spain will be familiar with. Bigas Luna chucks it all in the stew and turns the heat up to maximum.And why are so many people upset by the trucks? The film is set next to one of those long dusty highways that are so common in Spain. Of course there are trucks. Take my tip, go to Spain, rent a car, drive between almost any two big cities, stay in a motel at the side of the road, try and sleep - you will get the idea.
24 out of 30 people found the following review useful: Brilliantly funny but not to everyone's taste, 1 February 2003 Author: gelobter from Milan, Italy
Now, it would be a boring world if everyone had the same opinion on everything and the same sense of humour. What is sad, though, is the astonishing inability of some of the above reviewers even to appreciate that their understanding of this film might actually be a teens-weensy bit different from that of other cinemagoers.And I never cease to be amazed by the complaint often aired on this website that a film is subtitled. How terribly shocking it must be for you to discover that not everyone in the world speaks English. It shouldn't be allowed, should it?Jamon, jamon is obviously not to everyone's taste. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone I know, because the humour and the plot are idiosynchratic, 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, hence, to 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.
20 out of 23 people found the following review useful: Charmingly Offensive, 8 October 2001 Author: DanB-4 from Canada
Bigas Luna's most noted work in North America, Jamon Jamon is a film that teeters on offensive, but does so with such sweetness and charm that it is hard to resist.In a plot that only Luna could bring to life, young, sexy Silvia (Penelope Cruz) is engaged to and pregnant by Jose Luis, the son of underwear merchants. Silvia is too lower class for Jose Luis' meddling mother, Conchita, so she hires the young, handsome Raul (Javier Bardem) a worker in a ham factory and wannabe underwear model and bull fighter, to romance her away. But the love starved and still sexy Conchita falls for Raul, while Jose Luis frequents the bordello owned by Silvia's mother. Eventually, the two men duke it out in one of the most unique and bizarre fight scenes ever, beating each other with hams.This is a dark and weird R-rated soap opera, in which every scene is over the top melodrama, and all characters deliver their lines like they were their last. But it works scene after scene, largely due to the directing and casting. For physical appearance, you won't find a better looking cast anywhere.Jamon Jamon is challenging because it is so unconventional, but is also enjoyable because of its romance and passion. I enjoy Luna movies immensely and highly recommend this film along with the two that follow, Heuvos de Oro and La teta y la Luna. ***1/2 out of ****.
22 out of 28 people found the following review useful: Sexy, Surreal, Hilarious, 4 April 2001 Author: Aw-komon from Sherman Oaks, CA
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.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: I'd like to eat those hams, too., 2 September 2007 Author: lastliberal from Florida
Bigas Luna is being touted as the new Pedro Almodovar in this Spanish comedy. I don't know about that, but the film is funny and interesting and a chance to see a lot of Penolope Cruz in her first film. Thae fact that you get a bonus with Italian beauties Anna Galiena and Stefania Sandrelli as the mothers just makes it more interesting.The story is basic fare of the telenovella: Rich boy falls in love with prostitutes (Stefania Sandrelli) daughter (Penolope Cruz) and gets her pregnant; boy wants to marry her, but can't tell his domineering mother (Anna Galiena); boy's father is one of mother's biggest clients and doesn't want to get involved; when mom finds out, she pays her lover (Javier Bardem) to break up the pair; lover falls in love with girl; rich kid goes crazy; big fight with ham bones; death.Let's see, there is a nude bullfight at midnight, some unnatural act with a pig, lots of references to ham, and lots of underwear modeling - male, that is - since that is where they make their money. In fact, it is Javier Bardem's filling out of the underwear that attracts him to momma.Some really weird stuff - almost surreal at times - makes this a must see.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: A Very Dark but Enormously Successful Unique Film, 6 November 2006 Author: gradyharp from United States
'Jamón, jamón' is a tremendously creative movie by director José Juan Bigas Luna and his writing partner Cuca Canals (Son de mar, Volavérunt, Bámbola, Lumière et compagnie, La Teta y la luna, and Huevos de oro), a film that is a dark comedy but not in the ho-ho manner: the comedy is the human comedy and watching it evolve may at times make the viewer avert the eyes because of its truthfulness.Silvia (a very young Penélope Cruz) lives with her prostitute mother (Stefania Sandrelli) in a truck stop bordello, obviously in the lower caste of society. Silvia works in the Under Wear factory owned by the parents (Anna Galiena and Juan Diego) of Penelope's boyfriend José Luis (Jordi Molla). Penelope is pregnant by José Luis but of course this low class association will never do to his mother so she sets about to distract Silvia from José Luis's attentions. Enter a ham seller and wannabe bullfighter Raúl (the very buff and hunky young Javier Bardem) who is a macho as they come (a night scene where Raúl and his handsome friend played by Tomás Martín fight a bull in the nude is the pinnacle of machismo!) whom the mother hires to distract Silvia. But the plot thickens when the intended coupling becomes crazily rearranged (Raúl has sex with José Luis's mother, José Luis seeks out the corporal companionship of Silvia's prostitute mother, José Luis's father grasps for Silvia, etc) until the sextet comes to a strange ending on the twilight plains of Spain.This color-saturated movie by cinematographer José Luis Alcaine is a visual delight and the accompanying musical score by Nicola Piovani adds just the right amount of spice. But it is the extraordinary acting of the young actors who were to become international stars - Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, and Jordi Mollà - that bring the excitement and aura of sensuality to this very controversial film. José Juan Bigas Luna is a terrific combination of Dalí, Almodóvar, Cocteau, and Buñuel, but he carries his dark comedic sense into the critical eye of the human microscope. The film is a delight and a joy to see, if only to watch the three big names at their early stages! Grady Harp
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: An Early Penelope Cruz movie, 23 January 2007 Author: barb57 from United States
I happened to catch this movie on cable last night and found it to be truly fascinating even though I had to concentrate on reading the sub titles instead of looking at the picture and listening. Miss Cruz totally owns this film but ALL the acting is excellent. The raw passion of the main characters holds the viewer's attention throughout. Jamon Jamon is only Penelope's second movie according to her film biography but she shows NO inhibitions in her portrayal of a young passionate woman seeking love and fulfillment. Even her mother and potential mother-in-law are steaming with sexuality and seeking passionate liaisons. The potential father-in-law also gets a bit of titillation from the character so beautifully portrayed by Miss Cruz.
5 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Wild, off-beat satire, 21 March 1999 Author: Apollo-14 from Athens, Greece
This movie should be a favorite for lovers of black comedy such as "Fargo". The director develops many love triangles, uses dense symbolism and an extremely off-beat yet fast paced editing technique to tell a tale of "ham and passion". It is very funny and Penelope Cruz is terrific. A must see for lovers of satirical black comedies.
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Comedy turns to drama, 19 November 2006 Author: AngelikaLina from Greece
Very interesting the way Bigas Luna joins together many elements: surrealism and realism, Italian new-realism and Almodovar's humorist notion in some situations. Certainly, a typical Spanish film of great inspiration which turns to nothing, because of the exaggerated plot about sexual relations with improper persons... same person for mother - daughter, son! - thus resuming to an idea of very bad notion about morals in Spain - both for wealthy and poor. Although acting was very good, also the photography. I mention the excellent acting of Javier Bardem who keeps all the interest in this film, with his role of a "payed lover" turned to a deeply in love desperado of the type of those who have nothing to loose except their own life... in a relationship which starts as a joke and turns to a drama.
6 out of 11 people found the following review useful: A noble effort, 1 April 2004 Author: longy-1 (ze_sacred_cow@hotmail.com) from Wales
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.
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