Golden Balls (1993)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Don't Believe the Hype

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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.

HUEVOS DE ORO (Golden Balls) is a 1993 film by writer/director JJ Bigas Luna (best known for his 'Jamon, Jamon' and 'Son de Mar') that suffers from defective promo/packaging. The cover of the DVD (probably released only of late because of Javier Bardem's growing popularity in this country) suggests an edgy comedy: Bardem in a gold suit is seen grasping his crotch! Nothing could be more misrepresenting as this is a drama of lust, greed, power, and ruthlessness. Get past the promo and settle in for a drama and the result is not bad.Benito Gonzalez (Javier Bardem) is a construction worker with a dream: he is obsessed with power of building and owning the tallest building in Barcelona and of becoming the richest man who can own gold Rolex watches and have all the women he wants. He is a lustful lover, first with his best friend Mosca's (Francesco Dominedo) sister Rita (Elisa Tovati) whose body and scent are a passion for him. Yet he dreams of his tallest building (the possibility of his achieving this is not unlike the ease of getting an erection!) and he focuses his life on his greed. His co-worker Miguel (Alessandro Gassman) is to help him fulfill his dream, but when he discovers Miguel is sleeping with Rita he is incensed and leaves his lowly construction job for the promise of riches in Barcelona.Through stepping on people, using devious means to get backing and money for his 'Gonzalez Tower', Benito gradually destroys all of those who want to help him - his new girl Claudia (Maribel Verdu) with whom he has another sexual obsession then talks into sleeping with one of his money source prospects, the banker (Albert Vidal) who has slept with Claudia becomes his father-in-law when for monetary gain Benito marries daughter Marta (Maria de Medeiros), a wily but wealthy film producer 'Gil with the Chickpeas' (Ángel de Andrés López), and more.By breaking the law, abusing his 'friends', and lying in general Benito's building is nearly completed. But a series of tragedies involving Mosca's accidental death, and an auto accident with many permutations for Benito, and the ultimate loss of funding result in Benito's multiple losses of his dreams, betrayals of his pitiful sex life (this time a lowly gardener Bob (Benicio Del Toro) steals his paramour) leave Benito destroyed. The story is actually on the order of a Greek tragedy - but sadly without the impact.Though Javier Bardem is a brilliant actor and is in the company of other exceptional actors, the script by JJ Bigas Luna is weak, paying little attention to character motivation and emphasizing instead gross caricatures. But if the film is taken as a recreation of the driving, greedy, power obsession of the 1980s then the message makes its impact. And it is always good to see early work by such actors as Bardem, Del Toro, and Verdu! Grady Harp

In this film, there is a loose plot of a man (Bardem) who wishes to obtain financing for his construction business, and marries a woman he does not love (the wide-eyed Maria de Medieros) in the process. He maintains his passionate relationship with his first and true love, and ultimately gets entangled in his own romantic web. He never gives up his juggling act, until the three main characters come face to face. The film results boring, with lots of free sex (well, both girls are really good), all the reactions in the film are absurd, incoherent and of course, too much stupid. None of the characters are believable, which makes the movie a little annoying. Anyway, the acting is surprisingly good for such a bad directed film, which makes it a little interesting, but, if you can, watch another film please!

Lots of rather drrunken partying and explicit sexual activity do not disguise the fact that Golden Balls tells a sad story. Bardem, as Benito the young construction worker consumed with ambitions, aspiration, and sexual desire, is very fine. I would give him most of the credit for making this an interesting film, but Bigas Luna, the director, shows great skill in his handling of Benito's tangled relationships with three women and his slick maneuvering to gain financing for his consuming desire to build the tallest skyscraper in the city. Benito scores success in business and with his women, but in the end meets his downfall, losing money and prestige as his shoddy building practices are exposed. Even worse, it is made clear to him that he is not as good in bed as his gardener, Bob, played by Benicio del Toro in what is little more than a cameo but very convincing.