I Love You Baby (2001)

Just what I expected

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This is a cute comedy from Spain, not meant to confuse audience members who can't keep with the subtitles or understand the movie without them. It's about a man, unsure of his sexuality, who goes to Madrid to work at his uncles' restaurant (Marcos, played by Jorge Sanz). On his first day at work, he meets a young Dominican (Marisol) who falls head over heels for him, but Marcos thinks he is gay.Ergo, the gay bar scene, where Marcos meets a young and extremely handsome struggling actor,Daniel (magnificently played by Santiago Magill), who also falls head over heels for Marcos. They become a couple although both men clearly have different tastes in food, sports and theater. The movie doesn't go into more details about their personal relationship until.....THE POINT OF NO RETURN At a karaoke disco, while both are performing a Franki Valle tune, a disco ball comes loose and conks Marcos on the head, knocking him unconscious. Now the question becomes....Was Marcos really Gay, or just Experimenting?? Because when he regains his senses, he is less and less attracted to Daniel and breaks up with him, leading Daniel to think the bump on the head was responsible for his "straightness". Santiago Magill gives a very versatile performance as a love-sick Daniel who confides in his flighty, but lovable friend Carmen, who tries to explain the reality that Marcos didn't really look as if he cared for Daniel as much as Daniel was clearly in love with Marcos.SPOILER ALERT!!!! The rest of the movie deals with how Daniel tries in vain to woo back Marcos, who has become involved with the Dominican immigrant, Marisol. Daniel, takes a cue from his idol Boy George, and sets out to trick Marcos into falling in love with....Daniel's female alter ego, who is a big hit with a local Dominican man, to his/her surprise. Magill gives a great, versatile performance for such a young actor who is paired up with Sanz, one of Spains' most popular actors. You can feel Daniel's pain as he realizes he's lost the love of his life, and you laugh with him as he changes into his alter ego.The movie has a great, happy ending. Look for the Boy George Cameo!!

I LOVE YOU BABY Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: Dolby DigitalStruck by a falling disco ball while singing karaoke in a Madrid nightclub, a gay country boy (Jorge Sanz) wakes to find himself inexplicably 'straight', alienating his devastated boyfriend (Santiago Magill) who surrenders him to a relationship with beautiful single mother Tiaré Scanda. But Magill is unwilling to relinquish Sanz so easily, and makes one last desperate effort to reclaim him...Uneven mixture of lightweight comedy and social melodrama, co-directed by Alfonso Albacete and David Menkes, which reinforces unpleasant attitudes about the 'second-class' status of gay men in macho Spanish culture. Some of the plot twists recall Pedro Almodóvar at his most outrageous (Magill adopts a female disguise to steal Sanz away from his newfound love), but the film is hamstrung by the miscasting of Sanz in a crucial role, and the unconventional ending is a disappointment. However, Magill - star of DON'T TELL ANYONE (1998), and one of the most astonishingly beautiful actors in contemporary Spanish cinema - carries the script's emotional burden with effortless grace; his brief love scenes with Sanz are entirely natural, and completely unaffected. Watch out for an *appalling* cameo by Culture Club frontman Boy George.(Spanish dialogue)

I watched this movie the other day, and I have a few observations about it. First, I don't see what Daniel saw in Marcos at all. While Marcos is a physically attractive fellow, he seems to be totally devoid of humor and warmth. Daniel, on the other hand, appears to be someone who is in love with life and it's possibilities. Second, the whole issue of the falling disco ball and Marcos's change from gay to straight is, in my opinion at least, ridiculous. I understand that the filmmaker was trying to make a point, but does anyone on the planet think that sexual orientation is so malleable? I can recommend this movie, albeit with strong reservations. If you're looking for a foreign gay-themed movie, you may wish to consider "L'Homme que j'aime" or "Les Roseaux sauvages", both of which I, for whatever it's worth, thoroughly enjoyed.

This seems to appeal much more to women than to men, possibly because the ending is so much more satisfying for women (featuring lots of happy mothers with children!). I found it quite mediocre and formulaic, and it just barely held my attention to the end. It has a peculiarly "young-and-innocent" feel to it; although the plot involves a male-male-female sexual triangle, and the woman already has an illegitimate child, it is very chaste and there aren't even any sex scenes! The biggest problem is with the mis-casting of Jorge Sanz; he is supposed to be playing a highly-desirable guy in his early 20s, the same age-range as the other two leads. However he was 32 at the time this was filmed, and unfortunately he has aged rapidly and looks more like 40 on-screen. Also he seems to be sleepwalking through the role. So you end up with a once-hot rapidly-aging lead actor giving a low-energy performance, mis-matched with two young and energetic co-stars, a feeble child-like script, and mediocre direction and choppy editing. I generously gave it a 5. To really see Sanz in action, view his early works like the romantic "Belle Epoque" or the gritty electrifying "Amantes".