I had just bought a DVD player. The two other ones I had broken. It was Thanksgiving weekend, and the video store was completely ravaged of all the new dvds. I just happened to see this film at the side of the new releases. It is called HEREMAKONO, or il attende le bonheur. It is a film by Sissako. He studied filmmalking in Russia. The montage effect is so evident in this film. Instead of dialogue, there are scenes to the tell the story with no dialogue. The main character is a traveller. He has come to another place. There are many scenes of him just staring, and the "unprofessional" actor who plays him stares very well.
JAMON JAMON is a more recent one I've seen. I'm trying to improve my Spanish. It's easier for me to listen to Spanish in (I suppose) a Madrid accent. I initially learned Spanish from Catholic nuns from Spain. I still haven't completed a Spanish class since elementary school! Meanwhile, I got this film in Spanish because I had wanted to see it and had somehow heard about it. It is an older film and stars Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem in it as lovers in their early twenties.
I discussed this film with a friend of mine from Mexico. The notion of "puta" or whore in the film was an important one for him. I thought the film was funny and cynical at the same time. The constantly unleashed passions of the characters was hilarious; he association of penis excitement with bull fighting is an example. The obsession with breasts and size is, too. I wonder if Penelope Cruz had her breast enhancement surgery after the making of this film.
Somehow the association of ham and pigs with these characters best exemplifies its cynical naturalism. The pigs are just as attractive as the characters. Maybe the relationship between ham, pigs, and passionate humans overpowered my vegetarian leanings such that the leg of pig that Javier Bardem swings at his lover's fiancee didn't make me flinch but seemed appropriate.
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