Rating: 
Summary: Good movie, Bad ending
Review:
This is a wonderful film. The story was great, well, until the end. In the end, the story becomes a stereotypical of Spain's mainstream cinema towards queer folk.
The actors in this film do a great job, especially Jordi Molla who really speaks for millions of queer men around the world in this film. Being torn between who you are and who society expects you to be is a classic story of the queer soul.
And Ariadna Gill's potrayal of a decieved and lonely wife deserves a huge kudos! Elana (Gil's character) fights a life full of relationships that are not what she would want. Her mother, her husband and her lover.
Good film.
Rating: 
Summary: Steamy drama starring Javier Bardem
Review: "Second Skin" is the follow up film to Javier Bardem's Academy Award Nominated performance for Best Actor in "Before Night Falls" . In "Second Skin" Bardem again plays a gay man but this time he's in love with a married man. This Spanish language drama is a tense love triangle that you won't soon forget. The film also stars two of Spain's most famous actors "Cecilia Roth ("All About My Mother") and Ariandna Gil ( "Belle Epoque"). This is a film that will appeal to Bardem fans as well as fans of classic love triangles. But most of all it will have a strong appeal with gay consumers because of Bardem's strong presence.
Rating:
Summary: HUH? WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?
Review: -
ok, by now you guys already know what the film is all about so i won't get into it. let's just go ahead and talk about it.
the acting? good. the actors? gorgeous. jordi molla's shifting blue eyes, nervous smile, and impulsive hair stroking, infuses his character with scrim behavior. he is a most arresting presence. bardem lends his diego an almost cheerleader like optimism. it's a stylish film. swelling soundtrack and exotic cuban, lucrecia, singing a sultry version of "youkali." diego's environs are of ocean breezes and vibrant home colors while problematic alberto's is all dark, blue, and gloomy. he even sports stuble 24/7 and glassy eyes to drive home his inner struggles. truly stylish.
but the ending was a betrayal, a cheap irony considering the clincher of the movie which was a line that basically outlined alberto's non-confrontational method of dealing with his issues; diego says to alberto, "once again, we do the dirty work for you." well, the ending does the dirty work for alberto effectively. what a copout solution indeed! confused alberto gets off scott free and left everybody else to suffer! this is where the movie's soul is lost. this is where it sinks into melodrama.
-
Rating:
Summary: Bardem: fearless; Molla: even better; the ending: a copout
Review: First of all, if you made it here, congratulations! This movie is hard to find. Released in Spain as "Segunda Piel" and in the UK/US as "Second Skin," amazon.com has filed it oddly under "Secondskin." The only way to get here was to hop over to amazon's imdb.com affiliate, put in Javier Bardem's name, find "Segunda Piel," then use the link there to hop back over to amazon. Phew. Anyway, this movie is a real treat, up until the last 10 minutes or so. Bardem plays a gay man again (albeit, *quite* different than his superb playing of Reinaldo Arenas in "Before Night Falls"), this time falling for married man Jordi Molla. As good as I expected Bardem to be, Molla is even better. He's a confused soul. He's got anguish all over his face and in every little nuanced action (the self-conscious, repetitious patting down of his hair is but one perfect touch). Bardem and Molla go further here in the portrayal of the physical aspects of their relationship than you could ever expect two equivalent American stars to go. These are two of Spain's leading actors. As a good exercise, try to picture Brad Pitt and Matt Damon in these scenes. Wouldn't happen. The ending is a copout though. Very disappointing. There had to be a better way to end it than the cheap exit taken by the filmmakers. Still though, it can't spoil two fearless performances by Bardem and Molla.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't stop watching it
Review: I could not stop watching this movie. The acting was superb. Javier Bardem, Jordi Molla, and Ariandna Gil did awesome jobs of acting. This movie did a great job in showing that being gay is not about what society or the media has perceived it to be. It's about real life people who are no different than straight people other than to struggle with what society deems as "bad". This film shows how being gay is not a decision you just make one day, and how it really affected this man's life,the people around him, and the love he had for both his family and his lover. I love the ending where the wife and the lover are bonded by the feelings they share for this one man. You cannot help but fall in love with all these characters. Awesome movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I really had looked forward to this movie. Having seen Javier Burdem in "Before Night Falls" I was thrilled that he was appearing in another (supposedly) intense "gay-themed" film. He is truly a gifted actor! After viewing "Second Skin" I'm afraid that I was very disappointed. Javier Burdem, as wonderful and gorgeous as he is, could not, for me, save this movie from being merely a melodrama. To me, at best, it was on the level of a very slim "Hallmark Hall of Fame" Sunday night family presentation. ...
The acting, by all three of the actors, is superb; however, to me, the characters were not developed enough to make them believable or, at least, interesting. I just could not buy Javier as Diego being so wimpy that he allowed Jordi Molla, as Alberto to "use" him as he did--Give me a break, Diego, as played by Javier, is a gorgeous hunk of a man PLUS a successful medical doctor, for god's sake!! I know that love can make you be a complete idiot, but Javier's character was impossible for me to comprehend. We, the audience, needed to be given some clue as to why Diego acted so irrationally having no backbone, of any sort, when it came to Alberto (was it low self-esteem, was he abused as a child or was he just stupid?) No hint is given as to why he played a "door-mat" for Alberto allowing him to treat him very badly--Alberto disappears for weeks at a time without Diego being able to contact him; when they finally go away together for one of Diego's Medical Conventions all Alberto does is try to prove that he really, really isn't gay by flirting with Diego's good female friend then getting mad and spending the night away from the hotel where they are staying and acting all [mad], the next day, when Diego tries to find out "what is the matter" and to offer some comfort. We, the audience, need to have some small clue as to why Diego would allow this mistreatment without losing his temper and beating him to a pulp or at least calling him a few bad names.
The character of Alberto, as played by Jordi Molla, is a complete puzzle to me. Due to a lack of any depth, in the movie, I just got the feeling that he was a man that simply "wanted his cake and eat it too". (a nice cozy "safe" family life and a hot, sexy boyfriend on the side--...) All he could state was that he loved his wife, kid AND Diego. Worse of all, when one gets the feeling, in the move, that there was a slim possibility that finally Alberto might get his act together and make a decision as to his life and/or future--him or her??(his wife, with the only pair of balls in the movie, had kicked him out and of course he went to live with Diego after much groveling from Diego.) and after Alberto starts hysterically sobbing that he just CAN'T live with a sexy, gorgeous, sweet, kind, smart and successful man that so happens to love him madly--in other words, he just could not live as a gay man (PLEASE!) the movie kills him off and it ends with the overused "wife and the husband's boyfriend become best friends" movie ending.
...
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing melodrama
Review: I think it was screenwriter William Goldman who wrote that you should try to begin a scene/movie as late as possible in the series of events. This removes unnecessary exposition in favour of the audience picking up all necessary cues quickly enough to understand the real drama that is unfolding. Sadly this film is - performance aside - mainly dreary exposition, and then when the real dramatic potential emerges, the movie abruptly terminates. To see a movie that goes further with the same basic ingredients, see "Making Love" from the 1980s which is actually more adventurous.
Rating:
Summary: Spanish love triangle
Review: In the Spanish film "Second Skin," Elena (Ariadna Gil) is happily married to Alberto (Jordi Molla). Well, at least she thinks she's happily married until she begins to sense that something is wrong in the relationship. Elena tries discussing the problem, but Alberto consistently denies that anything is wrong. Elena discovers hotel receipts in her husband's pocket, and she confronts hims about an affair and 'the other woman.'Alberto admits having an affair, but his new relationship is with another man, and he hides this from Elena. The acting in this fine Spanish soap opera is good. However, the character of Alberto is a bit problematic. The main dilemma in the film is not the affair, or the crumbling marriage, but whether or not Alberto can accept his homosexuality. He is torn between his wife, (he still claims to love her), and his new passion, Diego (Javier Bardem). While Alberto struggles to accept his homosexuality, his torment also can unfortunately be interpreted as insincerity as he weasely darts back and forth between his wife (who's trying hard to understand), and Diego, who is confident and strong under adversity. The rock-solid characters of Elena and Javier serve as a contrast to Alberto's uncertainty, despair, and fear, but the very nature of the love triangle places Alberto on shaky ground, and this was detrimental to the film's central idea. Consequently, Alberto appears to be a less-sympathetic character, and more of a weasel than was perhaps intended. Javier Bardem is the Spanish version of George Clooney, and it's always a pleasure to see him in a role. Also special note here for Celia Roth as Diego's smitten work-mate--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: Spanish love triangle
Review: In the Spanish film "Second Skin," Elena (Ariadna Gil) is happily married to Alberto (Jordi Molla). Well, at least she thinks she's happily married until she begins to sense that something is wrong in the relationship. Elena tries discussing the problem, but Alberto consistently denies that anything is wrong. Elena discovers hotel receipts in her husband's pocket, and she confronts hims about an affair and 'the other woman.'Alberto admits having an affair, but his new relationship is with another man, and he hides this from Elena. The acting in this fine Spanish soap opera is good. However, the character of Alberto is a bit problematic. The main dilemma in the film is not the affair, or the crumbling marriage, but whether or not Alberto can accept his homosexuality. He is torn between his wife, (he still claims to love her), and his new passion, Diego (Javier Bardem). While Alberto struggles to accept his homosexuality, his torment also can unfortunately be interpreted as insincerity as he weasely darts back and forth between his wife (who's trying hard to understand), and Diego, who is confident and strong under adversity. The rock-solid characters of Elena and Javier serve as a contrast to Alberto's uncertainty, despair, and fear, but the very nature of the love triangle places Alberto on shaky ground, and this was detrimental to the film's central idea. Consequently, Alberto appears to be a less-sympathetic character, and more of a weasel than was perhaps intended. Javier Bardem is the Spanish version of George Clooney, and it's always a pleasure to see him in a role. Also special note here for Celia Roth as Diego's smitten work-mate--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: Put Far From Heaven far from your mind and see this instead
Review: It's a shame that Far From Heaven got the press and nods because Second Skin is a far more realistic portrayal of life for a gay married man. Dennis Quaid's one-dimensional and obvious "not a clue" portrayal is lackluster and shallow next to Jordi Molla's appropriately angst-ridden protrayal. With the help of this movie's screenwriter, he presents the frantic struggle for identity that stops and starts, moves forward and backward, over and over for many gay married men. He tries to have the best of both worlds, but cheats everyone, including himself, in the process. Filmgoers were often angered by his character's dishonesty, ambivalence, and vacillation--that's the best accolade one can give for a performance. Ariana Gil's character's affair seems a bit unrealistic, but makes for good drama.
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