Customer Reviews

Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been waiting forever for this movie to come on Region 1 Format. Now, it's finally here. This is a great movie based on the story of six people.

This comedy deals with the romantic lives of 6 people, 2 couples and 2 individuals that make the couples' problems come to light.

Carlos (Victor Huggo Martin) and Ana (amazingly played by Susana Zabeleta) are very different. Carlos is very spiritual and intellectual and Ana is very physical. She feels unsatisfied in their relationship and when Tomas (Demian Bechir), an old friend (and Ana's former lover) visits, their relationship will be put to the test. Carlos will feel insecure and will throw one hell of a jealous fit.

Andrea (Cecilia Suarez) and Miguel (Jorge Salinas) are a well off married couple. Miguel is constantly unfaithful and has never truly understood his wife, trying to fill with dolls the void that she feels at not having a child. María (Monica Dionne), Miguel's former lover, stays with them whilst visiting Mexico and the attraction between Miguel and María builds up.

After an impasse, the lines are divided and its women versus men. This results in a lot of hilarity, and self-reflection.

This is a great and funny movie. Highly recommended.

I saw this film five years ago when it was first released in mexico and i remember that in that point in time mexican cinema was non existent, people just did not want to see mexican movies, this at that time broke all box office records as the most profitable movie ever produced in mexico and is directly responsible for the success of future movies like Amores Perros, Y tu Mama Tambien and The Crime Of Padre Amaro, this movie is a milestone in mexican filmmaking and a must see.

SEX, SHAME AND TEARS is a difficult movie to classify: for the first part of the movie it feels as though we are going to be eaves-dropping on the lives of the fashionable, aspiring middle class Yuppies who live a breakneck speed, seemingly more involved with parties than with personal concerns. How this changes into a meaningfully significant movie is to the credit of writer director Antonio Serrano (Lucia, Lucia', etc).

Carlos (Victor Huggo Martin) is a pseudointellectual who spends most of his day meditating and the remainder of his time writing about sex articles on his PC (though he doesn't appear to be a sensualist in life!). He rooms with Ana (Susana Zabeleta) who is Carlos' opposite - a sensualist, exotic photographer who just happens to lust after Carlos without success. Their friends, who visibly live in a condo opposite them, are Miguel (Jorge Salinas) a lothario who abandoned his dream of being a cinematographer for the very lucrative job and lifestyle of a graphic designer and though married to Andrea (Cecilia Suarez), a would be model/extra movie actress who suffers from insecurity and low self esteem at Miguel's hands, the marriage is rocky and abusive.

Enter the change makers: Tomas (Demian Bechir) is an old chum of Carlos' and Ana's (Ana had an affair with him while the three were in college together) and is a hedonist with no strings, a worldly pleasure seeker who is invited to move in with the couple - to Ana's delight and Carlos' chagrin. Across the way Maria (Monica Dionne), a veterinarian and Miguel's old college sweetheart, moves in, having been abandoned by her English husband. These two characters ignite fires that result in a battle of the sexes, and the three women take over Miguel's condo while the three men take over Carlos' condo. They swear off members of the opposite sex and the results of their mutual standoff (while always totally in view of each other through facing windows) forms the crux of the film and its ending. Each of the six characters enters into a realm of self-discovery and the individual results are both happy and sad.

The joy of this well made movie is in the handling of the dialogue and the merging of the superficial with the spiritual growth. All of the actors are fine and we are left feeling as though we have grown with them. A bristling, bustling, fast paced movie that says a lot about relationships as we experience them today. In Spanish with English Subtitles.

I found the film excellent! Great and unusual theme; Susana Zavaleta was super as usual; Jorge Salinas not the cute guy but mean; interesting fun throughout! I greatly recommend it to Latin film fans and to people wishing to make a start in this line of cinema.

I'm not very familiar with the Mexican cinema, but it's movies like this one, "Amores Perros" and "Y tu mamá tambien" that makes me want to be. I enjoyed this movie and I thought it was fabulous. "Sexo, Pudor e Lágrimas" ("Sex, Shame and Tears") is funny, serious, and sensitive film. The film is also is well-acted, directed, and written. I also understand that the film is based on his own play which deals basically with two couples going through some rough patch in their lives which I haven't seen so I'm clearly writing this review base on this film.

Some may has claim it not to be as great, but still it has lots to offer. Not 'typically' Mexican, I mean: it is relevant to western modern life and love relationship in general. Not only to Mexico. Artists (at best) have a vision to express, no matter where they do come from. One should not expect Mexican directors to make only movies about Mexico, Brazilian ones about Brazil, Iranian ones about Iran,... U.S. and European directors are not the only ones that have the right or the ability to be universal. Far from it. (However, a movie can sometimes be time- and location-specific and yet be universal; that's the magic of humankind)

Damian Bichir is one of the best things in the film. As Tomas, he holds the key to understanding the complicated lives all the young people in the film lead. Mr. Serrano got excellent acting from his attractive cast. Monica Dionne, Victor Hugo Martin, Cecilia Suarez, Jorge Salinas and Susan Zabaleta complete the sextet.

Technically, this film has great visual style. It's a sophisticated look at the upwardly mobile class of the Mexican society. Xavier Perez Grobet gives a magnificent look to the movie. Antonio Serrano has to be congratulated for a picture that stands apart from others coming from Mexico by his understanding of the people involved.

I saw this movie in the theater in Mexico when it was first released. To this day it has stayed one of my favorite movies. The story line is amazing and is delivered in such a brilliant way, mixing drama with comedy and bringing you into the caracter's lives. I've been waiting for years for it to come out in the US and finally it's here! I recommend it to anyone who loves a great story about the trials we go through in relationships with our loves as well as our friends.

I love this movie, I'd bought it on VHS in Mexico before they had it here in the States and it broke, I'm so happy they have it on DVD for sale. I just love it!!!

"Sexo, Pudor Lagrimas" (Sex, Shame and Tears)is director Antonio Serrano's ("Lucia,Lucia") attempt at making a hip, sexy, fast paced romantic comedy that unfortunately trips over its own feet in an attempt to be all of those things. "SPyL" tries too hard and as a result achieves none of them.
Reportedly a huge success in Mexico, "S,P y L" may be a case of "you had to have been there" as time (end of the last Millenium) and place (Mexico City) play a big role here.
Though the actors are attractive and the film is well made on a technical level, you feel no kinship with any of them and instead you squirm, plug your ears with your fingers and wish you had a Butterfinger on which to munch.
The basic problems here are twofold: the inarticulate and silly screenplay and Serrano's frantic direction of his actors: most of whom that do their level best to makes sense of their under-developed characters.
Serrano should have a bunch of Pudor and weep a gallon of Lagrimas for this waste of celluloid but he somewhat redeems himself with his later "Lucia, Lucia"; though the remarkable, luminescent Cecilia Roth may have more to do with that success than does Serrano.

Boring, derivative and very mildly amusing. Almodovar did it all before-and much better 20 years ago! I couldn't ever watch it for more than 30 minutes. The only positive comment I have is that the movie shows a more polished and upscale side of Mexico and not the usual slums and sordid lives that seems to be so typical in Mexican movies, at least those imported in the USA.