I was not quite sure what to expect of the movie, but I was positively surprised.
The technical side of things looks like this: art, style and overall theme are nicely done, the director did a fine job here. Considering he did (prior to Carne de Neon) only some minor work. So it's rather astonishing what he pulled off. Editing, lighting and sound are en par with each other and support the entire setting rather well.
However, what really gives the movie its unique charm are the characters. Especially Infantita is such a vibrant and lovable character- he is a transvestite who thinks he's the illegitimate son of Juan-Carlos of Spain. At the same time he struggles to become the woman he always wanted to be.
Similar to this all characters are lovable, somewhat skewed, yet still very much human with normal emotions. IMO none of the characters is really unlikable, they have so much "normality" in them, it's almost uncanny. And from this, and their interactions, this movie draws its strength.
The story is (in parts) slightly crazy, bordering on the absurd. When your Mom gets out of prison, what do you do? Mind you, she was in prison for prostitution. Of course, you open up a brothel for her! What else, right? Joining this main arc we have some sub-plots that tie into the main arc: human trafficking, turf wars, corrupt police, personal problems and maladies, love and friendship. The sub-plots are woven into the main story in an orderly manner, mostly. Here and there is a tiny glitch, or a little bit of a "forced connection", if I may call it that. But apart from slight and tiny misses the story is spot on.
In general the movie looks and feels like a bit of Guy Ritchie, sprinkled with some Tarantino and a whole lot of Spanish zest. You can tell it's an Euroflick and that it was not made to please the masses. But this is exactly what really makes this one stand out.
Slight deductions in score result from the dialogues. Unfortunately I speak no Spanish, so I watched the dubbed version. Maybe something got lost in translation, who knows. I probably did not get all the cultural references either, so I can only blame myself.
If you are looking for some light-hearted entertainment, that still manages to touch a few touch subjects without being goofy or pathetic, you should give this one a go.
The technical side of things looks like this: art, style and overall theme are nicely done, the director did a fine job here. Considering he did (prior to Carne de Neon) only some minor work. So it's rather astonishing what he pulled off. Editing, lighting and sound are en par with each other and support the entire setting rather well.
However, what really gives the movie its unique charm are the characters. Especially Infantita is such a vibrant and lovable character- he is a transvestite who thinks he's the illegitimate son of Juan-Carlos of Spain. At the same time he struggles to become the woman he always wanted to be.
Similar to this all characters are lovable, somewhat skewed, yet still very much human with normal emotions. IMO none of the characters is really unlikable, they have so much "normality" in them, it's almost uncanny. And from this, and their interactions, this movie draws its strength.
The story is (in parts) slightly crazy, bordering on the absurd. When your Mom gets out of prison, what do you do? Mind you, she was in prison for prostitution. Of course, you open up a brothel for her! What else, right? Joining this main arc we have some sub-plots that tie into the main arc: human trafficking, turf wars, corrupt police, personal problems and maladies, love and friendship. The sub-plots are woven into the main story in an orderly manner, mostly. Here and there is a tiny glitch, or a little bit of a "forced connection", if I may call it that. But apart from slight and tiny misses the story is spot on.
In general the movie looks and feels like a bit of Guy Ritchie, sprinkled with some Tarantino and a whole lot of Spanish zest. You can tell it's an Euroflick and that it was not made to please the masses. But this is exactly what really makes this one stand out.
Slight deductions in score result from the dialogues. Unfortunately I speak no Spanish, so I watched the dubbed version. Maybe something got lost in translation, who knows. I probably did not get all the cultural references either, so I can only blame myself.
If you are looking for some light-hearted entertainment, that still manages to touch a few touch subjects without being goofy or pathetic, you should give this one a go.