Not Love, Just Frenzy (1996)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

A lot of fun.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This movie is terribly bad. I don't know how this ¿script? passed any kind of selection. I must say that it is under the level of the actors in the movie, and, believe me, that's not easy. It's really sad to see that not one, but ¡three! directors, with all their talent together, are unable to overcome the level of shame.In the beginning, Nancho Novo's faces, remembering some sexual-criminal scene, already promises the absurd and bad-done development of the rest of the movie. The mixture of Madrid's "movida" and the deep feelings and the thriller atmosphere is really pathetic. The personal stories of the characters have been seen thousand times before, although the directors show them as very interesting and full of deep passion. The violent ending adds more absurd stupidity to the plot.Anyway, it's not a surprise to see how bad this film is. It is part of a sort of genre of Spanish bad movies, trying to imitate Almodovar's model, believing that filming sex, gay ambient, drugs and frenetic passions makes a movie a good movie. Unfortunately for these three directors, if you have a stupid story nothing works. And I guess that's what they will always have in their (I hope short) careers.

NOT LOVE, JUST FRENZY (Más que Amor Frenesí) Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: Dolby DigitalStaff and customers of a popular Madrid nightclub - gay, straight and everything in between - are thrown into disarray by the arrival of a stranger (Nancho Novo) whose life is threatened by a corrupt cop (Javier Manrique) seeking to connect him with a brutal murder.Despite a lack of focus in its early stages and a couple of disappointing plot twists, this outrageous romp plays Almodóvar at his own game and comes up trumps. Co-written and directed by Miguel Bardem and debut filmmakers Alfonso Albarete and David Menkes (I LOVE YOU BABY), the movie features some of Spain's sexiest rising stars - including popular actress/TV presenter Cayetana Guillén Cuervo (STORIES FROM THE KRONEN) as a trampy nightclub owner with the hots for Novo, and Gustavo Salmerón (99.9) as the eternal party-boy who dumps his deceitful boyfriend Javier Albalá (SECOND SKIN) to pursue an impossible infatuation with the unattainable, ultra-beautiful Liberto Rabal (LIVE FLESH) - and includes cameo appearances by Penelope Cruz (blink and you'll miss her), Javier Bardem (ditto) and Almodovar favorite Bibi Andersen as a lesbian pimp (!).The script combines sure-fire commercial elements (unrequited love, sexual betrayal, nymphomania, etc.) with layers of melodramatic excess (the gigolo who swears he was framed for murder, the psycho cop determined to nail him come what may), and the movie indulges an exhilarating sexual candor, including a heated exchange between Salmerón and Albalá in a shower, Novo and Guillén Cuervo enjoying a wild encounter in front of a bank of video monitors, and - in the film's most romantic episode - Rabal's full-frontal nude scene on a rooftop at midnight. All in all, voyeurs will certainly get their money's worth! About halfway through, however, the movie surrenders its 'gay' credentials and descends into mere 'camp', dropping several interesting plot threads to focus on Manrique's increasingly psychotic behavior as he launches a series of violent assaults on the primary female characters (the final sequence is a jaw-dropping combination of sex, death and bodily fluids!). Still, the movie is well-played by an engaging young cast (watch out for the lovely shot of Guillén Cuervo sweeping down a crowded high street in a billowing Victorian-style party dress!), and most viewers will be impressed by the filmmakers' refusal to compromise their eccentric ideals.(Spanish dialogue)

I caught this film while in Australia on their excellent SBS channel (which provides its own subtitles and pre-screening warnings). I was impressed with the pacing, content, and general freeness of the notions expressed, all while playing the universal theme of people wanting to be loved. The gay blond (Alberto) is needful and trying too hard and getting connected with all the WRONG men, YeYe is wildly in love with a gigolo, Maria is a mad-cap redhead (out of a bottle that is WAY over on the left side of the shelf) with a heart of gold and her own secret crush on a neighbor boy who (of course) insists on telling her all his sexual conquests (naive though they are) with other women. Add to this a murder investigation, a bit of underworld sexual business (as lesbian madam who uses the gigolo character to 'train' her 'staff'), and three totally over-the-top drag queens (and some of the tightest, rapid-fire writing of that genre) and you have a totally fun film. Yes, it is challenging and drug-filled (and therefore, probably not for the kiddies) but it is also a slice of life and masterful film-making. Invest the time if you are in the mood for a comedy. Invest the time if you are in the mood for a 'comedy /drama / thriller' (not many of those). You won't be disappointed.

Yeye, Monica and Maria are three roomates looking for a fourth. Yeye's cute friend Alberto has just met a new man Alex. Hunky Alex has a secret. Yeye is mending from a broken heart. Her lamented Max is on his way back to her, but first he needs to collect money from his pimp, Chrisina. Before Max can find Yeye he encounters Monica at club Frenzy. Monica with an agenda of her own, seduces Max and videotapes their lovemaking. Meanwhile, a Barcelona, policeman, Luis who suspects Max of murder, follows him and meets Maria... Confused? That's part of the fun of this colorful romp through the streets of Madrid that has a little something for everyone -- steamy sex, drugs, murder, and drag queens.