Jamón, jamón (1992)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Bigas Luna

Writers:

Cuca Canals (writer)
Bigas Luna (writer)

Release Date:

February 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

A dish of a woman

Plot:

Jose Luis is an executive at his parents underwear factory where his girlfriend Sylvia works on the shop floor...

Plot Keywords:

Underwear | Factory | Bullfighter | Using Pull Tab As Ring | Rain

Awards:

6 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Stefania Sandrelli	...	Propietaria fabrica ropa
Anna Galiena	...	Prostituta
Juan Diego	...	El padre
Penélope Cruz	...	Silvia
Javier Bardem	...	Raul
Jordi Mollà	...	El novio de Silvia (as Jordi Molla)
Tomás Martín	...	Amigo Raúl (as Tomás Penco)
Armando del Río	...	Amigo José Luis
Diana Sassen	...	Amiga Silvia
Chema Mazo	...	Padre de Silvia
Isabel de Castro Oros	...	Hermana Silvia
Nazaret Callao	...	Hermana Silvia
Marianne Hermitte	...	La chica del perro en el puticlub
Nadia Godoy	...	La que canta en el puticlub
María Reniu	...	Chica en puticlub

Also Known As:

A Tale of Ham and Passion (USA) (video title)
Ham Ham
Salami, Salami

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Spain

Language:

Spanish

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Netherlands:16 | Singapore:(Banned) | Argentina:18 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Peru:18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:Open (rating surrendered: 1993) | USA:R (original rating: 1993) | Canada:R (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Aragón, Spain

Company:

Lolafilms

Trivia:

In Spanish, the word "jamon" not only means "ham" but also "a dish of a woman".

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bigas Luna - La mirada entomòloga (2008)

Soundtrack:

Así me gusta a mí

A noble effort

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.