Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!
Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
duronmauricio For clarification purposes: Penélope Cruz was born 1974 in this 1982 film and Stefania Sandrelli plays not the rôle of her mother but that of her character's boyfriend, José Luis.
billcr12 Here's the chance to see an eighteen year old Penelope Cruz in a sex comedy with her future husband Javier Barden. The chemistry is evident, and it's hard to believe that it took so long for them to hook up. Cruz is Silvia, and she cooks for workers in an underwear factory. Her boyfriend, Jose Luis, has knocked her up, and his parent's own the factory where she works. He gives her a tab from a soda can and tells her it is an engagement ring. His overbearing mother is against a marriage and plots to prevent it. She hires Raul(Bardem) to seduce Silvia, but she resists at first and you can guess the rest, but is still entertaining as hell. Jose Luis's mother, Conchita, gets the hots for the much younger Raul and begs him for sex, until she bribes him with a motorcycle; a Spanish Mrs. Robinson. Her son waffles about whether or not to marry Silvia, and this drives her to Raul. Her fiancé becomes jealous and attacks her. This leads to a duel between the two men involving large hams; which explains the title Jamon Jamon. Cruz and Barden are excellent and should be paired together more often. The film is different and funny.
meetjopeblack "Jamon, jamon" revolves around lust and machismo. It's basically about sex, sex, and more sex! From the very start of the movie, with a bulge shot of Raul (Javier Bardem) to the rape scene of Silvia (Penelope Cruz), the film presents a sordid tale of "love" among twisted minds and perverted people (as each character partners with another throughout the whole film.) You cannot mistake this movie for a wholesome film because sex is literally shoved down your gut every second as it is peppered with symbols of dogs, pigs, a parrot, ham (as the title so gives away), pearls and what have you, which emphasize on the already obvious theme of the movie--sex, while showering you with loads and loads of sex sequences. At one point, I began asking myself what the point of the movie is. The characters are given no dignity and the director doesn't give one any reason to sympathize with them.A ray of light or salvation for this film comes when Silvia after being forced into sex stands up and fights for her "womanity." She runs to her lover Raul and again, engage in sex. This time though imioned sex/love making happens which is all too different from the previous ones. But later, Raul backslides and again gives in to money and the flesh leaving Silvia behind. Here, I accepted the fact that this movie is really about nothing. My feeling is validated by more surprises from other characters who aborted the purported salvation of this film. The movie ends with ham clubbing... hence, "Jamon, jamon." (I'd club this film with a ham too! grrr.)One good thing about the film is its title. The English translation of the film literally is "ham, ham" but my DVD subtitle says, "Of Love and Ham." I believe this is really the essence of the film--the pathos of looking for love in a community so driven by lust, greed, and selfishness. It is literally shown in the symbol of broken pearls and a pearl shoved in a pig's ass! The quest for love in such a forlorn community is like giving pearls to the pigs. Silvia could be anyone; she could be you or me... wanting some real love. Sadly, she risked it all to people who knew nothing more than giving in to the cravings of the flesh. For this I give the film a 4.
bubblegumyums65 I'm not sure what to think about this movie. It was quite confusing at times. I'm not sure why the trucks kept being shown ing by. Was it to make the movie longer? Or was it transition between scenes? One thing good about this movie, was the good looking people. Penelope Cruz looked pretty because she was very natural looking, a bit whore-like, but she didn't look fake. Of all the foreign movies I've seen, all of the other actors were new to me. (spoilers?) When I rented this movie, I expected something a little more than what was shown. The ending really blew me off. The characters were just shown crying, then the movie ended. There was no "real" ending. I wanted to know what had happened to the rest of the characters. Another thing that confused me was the "bullfighting" scene. What was really the point of the nudity? And the fighting with the hams. That part was actually kind of funny though. I would recommend this movie to anyone who would like to see it, but just keep in mind that it is not that big of a deal
