You won't be disappointed!

That was an excellent one.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

So, announces the DVD. But, this was a disappointing film. Not particularly bad but definitely not that good. Rather more crude and MTV video-like than the more subtle and masterful Jamon Jamon.None of the characters are likable, the lovely Penelope Cruz of Bigas Luna's first film replaced by vacuous supermodels (in comparison, maybe they are great actresses) and it all reads like a tawdry and cheap paperback that you'd pick up at motorway service station.Which, maybe is how Luna wanted it. Maybe he really is that repelled by the capitalist, nouveau-riche alpha male who believes his 'balls' not only rule his life but everybody else's, too. I know I am, and most people would be, too. Asked why Javier Bardem's lead character is sporting two gold Rolex's, he announces back "I have two balls, so I have two Rolex's".Artistically there is little merit to this film, but it is about overblown, over-macho stereotypes and how they think they can walk over everybody. There are nods to Dali (the nude with ants over her pubic region is an extreme example) and there are more phallic insinuations in Goldenballs than any other film I know of. From Gonzalez (Bardem) Towers, intended to be the tallest tower on the Med, in which Luna loosely stretches a fabric of some kind of story around, with his dodgy dealings and cost-cutting.Like, possibly his Tower, Gonzalez, and his potent sexual erections, does come a cropper, which is of some redemption, admittedly, but not enough to save the film. There's an early role for Benecio del Torro as the Miami-set gardener who happens to do more than service the sprinkler....What finally made me only award two stars was the poor DVD quality. It's of video standard, plain and simple.I bought Goldenballs as I wanted the three films in Luna's 'Iberian passion' trilogy, of which it is the middle. I'm seriously hoping that the final part, 'The Tit and the Moon' is an improvement.

Bigas Luna has the interesting distinction of having, since his breakthrough movie LAS EDADES DE LULU, a storyteller of erotic tales of sex and power with that particular Spanish spice. Starting in 1992, he began a loosely-based trilogy of sorts with JAMON JAMON which starred the rising young actor Javier Bardem in a co-starring role. However, in this movie Bardem gets the main role: that of an extremely ruthless Lothario who is undeniably a Spanish machista and wants to construct building so tall he can see his own house sitting on top of it from the ocean, who winds up getting in a huge amount of trouble once his sexual escapades and his shady dealings come to an awful head.Bardem, being the lead with the "huevos de oro" which he proudly fondles, plays Benito Gonzalez, a young officer of humble beginnings who is on military service in Melilla and has high hopes as well as a taste of young love in Rita. However Rita eventually leaves Benito for his studly friend, breaks his heart, and mashes his spirit, to which we cut to some time in the future. Benito has apparently moved quite a bit in the construction business and is enjoying an early success. However, his morals have become corrupted and he can only see women as objectified harbingers of lust and a means for him to get ahead as well as mirror images of his feminine ideal.He first encounters Claudia (Maribel Verdu), an aspiring dancer whom he is quick to flash out his jewelry while at the same time mocking her needs to please. She's "a little past" his ideal weight of 47 kilos, but she's sultry enough to capture his attention. However, such attention comes with warning signals that this won't be an easy road -- he draws abstract ideograms that depict etchings closer to that of a plastic surgeon's mappings that will dictate how a client will look after body reconstruction. They quickly fall into a relationship, but since he needs sponsors for his ambitions, he pimps her out to an older man whom she initially loathes because she wants to be faithful to him.Benito, however, has no intentions of staying where he's at. Ana (Maria de Medeiros), the daughter of the banker backing him up, becomes his wife, and now Claudia becomes his mistress. Things threaten to get out of hand, and reach an anticlimactic head when Benito brings Claudia home and shocks Ana, but left alone, both females bond in recognizing how objectified they've become for the love of this man (who sings his favorite song, Julio Iglesias' 1970s hit "Por el amor de una mujer/For the Love of a Woman". They even recognize Benito's etchings on their body... and fall into a threesome.Some events take place that bring Benito's inconsiderate hedonism down like the tower of Babel. Once that happens, his life spirals totally out of control: he loses everything, including Claudia to a car crash, and Ana due to an affair with a prostitute that takes her over the edge. Interesting, Bigas Luna has an epilogue that is fitting to such an antihero -- bringing him into unfamiliar land, with a woman who is his equal in every sense (and who refuses to conform to his needs of the ideal), and robbing him even of his own masculinity with the help of a young Benicio del Toro in a sinister yet equally erotic performance. Bigas Luna widens his erotic tale into a morality play that exposes the negative, ugly side of Spanish machismo (also inherent in Latin American countries), and Javier Bardem, oozing an overwhelming masculine presence, is perfectly cast as the stud who becomes a dud.

Huevos de Oro is a poignant and thoughtful film that tries to explain the macho state of mind. There is much symbolism, man erecting the biggest skyscraper and his final personal revelation that he can't always be the biggest or the best. The look on Benito's face during the three way love scene is poignantly painful, humorous and touched with sadness as he realizes he has not been satisfying his wife's appetities. Javier Bardem is an amazing and fearless actor. I also enjoyed what little sceen time Benicio Del Toro had, before he was famous. It's refreshing to see actors throw caution to the wind and goza, act their butts off.

This film is Spanish. This statement is not as obvious as you might think. Bigas Luna makes films so rich in Spanish cultural references that it is true that without previous knowledge, or better yet experience, of Spain then much of the film's charm will be lost. He parodies the stereotypes of spanish culture- the macho male most obviously, but there are numerous others- in such a way that anyone who accuses the characters of being over the top and unbelievable would very nearly be fully justified, if it wasn't that they are so instantly recognizable. Javier Bardem's character has wonderfully kitsch taste, most notably his attire and the obsession he has with Salvador Dali (to the point of outlining the famous 'drawers' across the bodies of all the women in his life). This goes a long way to creating the visual style which is somehow spot on for the mediterranean coast. The story itself is quite touching in the end, as a man of great passion and ambition rises from having nothing to having all he desires before the inexorable decent commences. There is much symbolism in this film for those who enjoy it. For example Bardem aims to erect the tallest building in town, yet as it fails and crumbles, so does his sexual potency. This film is admittedly an aquired taste, not for people who thrive on the tried and tested Hollywood formulae, unless they are willing to explore into the exotic and foreign world of Bigas Luna.