Second Skin

Rating:
Summary: An acting masterpiece
Review: Technically and acting wise, I commend this film.

The film opens with a great musical score, coupled with very good images that remind me of the Rorschach inkblots used for psychological testing. The musical score reverberates throughout the film, allowing the film to breathe a life of its own. The triumvirate of Javier Bardem, Ariadna Gil and Jordi Molla is probably one of the finest major acting ensemble (and best looking, if I may add) I've seen in recent memory.

However, the film's story has many loopholes. One is the recurring obsession of Diego for Alberto. Given this premise, I don't know why he never really went out of his way to find out the truth about his lover, especially that he acted strange many times when they were together. He only found out about Alberto having a family when Elena confronted him. And he appeared somewhat indifferent after finding out. Also, Elena's character comes off as somewhat vulnerable. Her one night stand with her co-worker (who eventually turned her down when she separated indefintely with her husband) was justified only because she needed someone to be intimate with at that time. Elena is a central character in this film and I believe what she was going through should have been given the same emphasis as the emotional lows presented for the character of Alberto.

The ending reminded of the Italian film "His Secret Life" [...]where the wife and the male lover became friends after the husband died. Only that this film's ending is actually the beginning of that film. This ending has its merits because it was then that the gamut of emotions running through the characters of Elena and Alberto were finally highlighted. Before that, the central struggle was placed heavily on the Alberto character.

In all, I believe this is a good film that makes up for its flaws in more ways than one.

Rating:
Summary: Very erotic sex scene between Javier Bardem and Jordi Molla
Review: The love scenes between Javier Bardem and Jordi Molla are tender and the most erotic I've seen in a foreign motion picture, not even American motion pictures will show two men that erotic together. This turns out to be a good, interesting story at first. And is a very real situation in today's modern world. A married man is having an affair with another man he enjoys privatly being with. Meanwhile, he has a wife at home. Their child finds a receipt, but the wife notices a receipt from a hotel. The wife never finds out who it is or really pinpoints that he is having an affair at all. The two men continue to see each other and tell one another "I Love you". Until the subject of public openess and women becomes a block. I won't say anymore about the plot. The film is good, but not quite as perfect as I was hoping for. They have yet to make a perfect man to man film were both men stay together forever, or at least stay friends. Here is my thanks to Javier Bardem for playing gay men so well and honest. He is the best. (Note: Javier Bardem has a 12-year relationship with his girlfriend, so no bad gossip now. He is a good actor.)

Rating:
Summary: good movie - could have been better
Review: this is a difficult topic -most directors will not like to deal with the "gay" topic especially when it is so physical in nature on screen. So from that perspective it is a great work - at least somebody has tried . Sometimes it is little bit of over acting - but as a whole you will enjoy it. I think the major improvement could have been in the script. some of the facts like the child does not show up in his father's funeral really bothered me.

Rating:
Summary: Men enagaged in sexxx
Review: This movie came across to me much like a telenovela(soap opera), full of drippy melodrama and a musical score that was way over the top. If you are reading these customer reviews you probably already have the gist of the plot. Elena and Al are married with one child and Al is having an affair with Diego. If there is a twist from the telenovela formula it is that Diego and Al are both men. I got this movie because I like Javier Bardem as an actor and knew nothing of the storyline,otherwise I may have chosen to pass. I'm far from a prude but I must admit this was a most uncomfortable movie to watch. I think I would have died if one of my sons or their friends had come in and seen me watching this movie; nothing could explain what was going on the screen. It is from my perspective not one to watch with your children by any means, unless of course you are far more liberal than me. I asked my wife if she wanted to see it and she read the synopsis and said, "no, I've seen enough gay movies." Up to this point I was unaware of what I was in for! When the "hot steamy" scenes came on I wanted to crawl under my couch least someone walk in. It made me feel terribly uncomfortable. Two naked men writhing about like snakes, intertangled in each others embrace and kissing, leaving not much for the imagination was too much for me. As I thought about what they were doing I felt a bit disgusted. I had never seen something like that and hope never to again. I just would like to warn other like minded people, who are open to gays but don't necessarily want to see their lifestyle that this movie pushes the envelope. The movie carries on with the dillema faced by the three people involved and eventually things get tragically resolved. Very good acting, especially Javier Bardem but for the most part but the characters and storyline was lacking in substance. I cannot say it was an enjoyable movie but rather a curious bit of filmmaking pushing an agenda. Get the movie if you like but be forwarned of the nudity and gay "lovemaking" scenes or if you are so inclined get it because of those scenes. The scenes that bothered me aside, the movie was ok but nothing great.

Rating:
Summary: Men enagaged in sexxx
Review: This movie came across to me much like a telenovela(soap opera), full of drippy melodrama and a musical score that was way over the top. If you are reading these customer reviews you probably already have the gist of the plot. Elena and Al are married with one child and Al is having an affair with Diego. If there is a twist from the telenovela formula it is that Diego and Al are both men. I got this movie because I like Javier Bardem as an actor and knew nothing of the storyline,otherwise I may have chosen to pass. I'm far from a prude but I must admit this was a most uncomfortable movie to watch. I think I would have died if one of my sons or their friends had come in and seen me watching this movie; nothing could explain what was going on the screen. It is from my perspective not one to watch with your children by any means, unless of course you are far more liberal than me. I asked my wife if she wanted to see it and she read the synopsis and said, "no, I've seen enough gay movies." Up to this point I was unaware of what I was in for! When the "hot steamy" scenes came on I wanted to crawl under my couch least someone walk in. It made me feel terribly uncomfortable. Two naked men writhing about like snakes, intertangled in each others embrace and kissing, leaving not much for the imagination was too much for me. As I thought about what they were doing I felt a bit disgusted. I had never seen something like that and hope never to again. I just would like to warn other like minded people, who are open to gays but don't necessarily want to see their lifestyle that this movie pushes the envelope. The movie carries on with the dillema faced by the three people involved and eventually things get tragically resolved. Very good acting, especially Javier Bardem but for the most part but the characters and storyline was lacking in substance. I cannot say it was an enjoyable movie but rather a curious bit of filmmaking pushing an agenda. Get the movie if you like but be forwarned of the nudity and gay "lovemaking" scenes or if you are so inclined get it because of those scenes. The scenes that bothered me aside, the movie was ok but nothing great.

Rating:
Summary: Yet to excel
Review: To be frank I think this yet another Latin languange film of homosexuality subject is too easy for Javier Bardem, at least for him to shrug off any hungry media after a gutsy portray and the Academy exposure of the late Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas in BEFORE NIGHT FALLS.

Like many scripts ever written, this films deals with a man's incapability to cope with dilemma of double life between the expected role and the true person he is. Too bad it becomes fatal for the near end script, which is but a cliché however for more experimenting audience like me.

High points are the details of passion and emotion between maintenance hangar chief Alberto (Jordi Mollà) and orthopedic surgeon Diego (Javier Bardem), especially the bed scenes where their roles are bound to reality and not the other way round.

Low points are that I find Ariadna Gil's performace a little numb for Alberto's absorbing wife Elena.

Rating:
Summary: The finest hour for ensemble acting...and directing!
Review: With SEGUNDA PIEL or Second Skin Gerardo Vera joins the ranks of such luminaries as Pedro Almadovar in achieving flawless vignettes of Spanish storytelling. He has assembled a cast of some of the finest actors on the screen today and manages to present a wholly credible story of a gender crisis love triangle.
Javier Bardem is inimitable as a sensitively wrought gay surgeon in love with a bisexual man (again, in a brilliant performance by Jordi Molla) who is married to a wise if fragile woman (sensitively acted by Ariadna Gil). Bardem's best friend is a fellow surgeon (the wondrous Cecilia Roth) who helps him through the highs and lows of his love affair with a man who is conflicted to the extreme. To tell more of the story would be to deprive the viewer of the impact. Suffice it to say that with the consistently excellent performances by this stunning quartet under the ever sensitive eye of Vera, this is a film to see again and again. Why is it that American actors have so much difficulty playing gay men? These two Spanish actors, coming from a society that is machismo, still make their lovers wholly believable and sensusal.
Bravo!