"Neon Flesh": Hustler with a Heart of Gold Opens a Brothel for His Mother

The plot synopsis for Neon Flesh (Carne de Neón), on Amazon Prime,  says something about a guy opening a brothel to honor the memory of his prostitute mother, so one would expect a nonstop boob fest.  But the trailer shows a muscular, half naked guy being interrogated and threatened while playing chess, and no ladies in sight.  There must be some mistake; synopsis and trailer couldn't possibly be referencing the same movie.  

Turns out that the trailer shows the only beefcake scene, and there are surprisingly few boobs in the movie.   Interesting -- I wonder if writer/director Paco Cabezas was going for a gay male audience.  Probably not: he also wrote and directed Invasion Traversi (2000), about an invasion of evil transvestite aliens who turn everyone gay; the "last living heterosexual on Earth" has three days to find "a real man" and save the world.

On the other hand, star Mario Casas, seen here with his brother, has played gay characters several times (including gay porn, I think), and appeared at Gay Pride events with his girlfriend Blanca Suarez, so definitely an ally, if not bi/pan. 

On to the movie: 23-year old Ricky (Mario) has been living on the streets for years, getting by through the usual underground economy of petty theft, drug dealing, and hustling ("Everybody knows what your ass looks like!", he is told).  He's been saving up his money to open a high-class brothel in honor of his mother, a prostitute currently in prison (but not for prostitution -- that's legal in Spain).  

With the help of his friends, drag queen La Infantita (Dámaso Conde), pimp Angelito (Vicente Romano), and Angelito's muscular but dimwitted sidekick El Niño(Luciano Cáceres, left), Ricky buys an abandoned building and transforms it into a high-class brothel-nightclub, Hiroshima.

For girls, they get Angelito's favorite prostitute, a crack addict so strung out that she doesn't draw customers anymore; and several victims of human trafficking, one of whom is extremely pregnant.  They give the trafficked girls the standard spiel: "You owe us for getting you into the country.  As soon as you have paid off your debt by working for us, we will give you citizenship papers. You can leave anytime you want, but the police will arrest you and deport you."

Complication: When Mom gets out of prison, she turns out to be in her 60s, with Alzheimer's Disease.  She doesn't know who Ricky is.  But after she starts working as a bartender at the club, she seems to improve.  

Actually, all of the girls improve.  While they are still trafficking victims, they turn into a quasi-family.  When the pregnant girl has her baby, they plan to sell it to a rich family in an illegal adoption, but decide that the new family might not treat the child properly, so they keep it.

Complication: Chino (Dario Grandinetti), who runs all the other brothels in town, wants revenge on two cops who beat his son to death.  So he grabs them, plus the Wild Child boarding school girl who is dating the younger one.  Ricky knows who actually did the beating, so Chino tortures him to find out.  That's the beefcake scene from the trailer.

Oh, and he wants 50% of the club's profits, retroactive to when it opened months ago.

No way Ricky can afford to pay that.  He has to close up the club and help his friends and the girls escape (Angelito is killed in the process), plus rescue Wild Child.  

Beefcake: Just that scene, and  El Nino flexing his muscles.

Other Sights: The gritty underbelly of a Spanish city, I think Barcelona.

Boobs: Surprisingly few. 

Heterosexual Romance:  The cop and Wild Child.  El Nino gets a crush on the pregnant girl, but nothing comes of it.

Sexism: At the beginning, the girls are treated as property that can be bought, sold, and discarded.  That all changes.

Is Ricky Gay?

"Everybody knows what your ass looks like."

He tries to hug Angelito, but Angelito pushes him away: "We're buddies, but none of that fag stuff!"  Ricky convinces him to hug anyway.

Angelito disapproves of the sign for Hiroshima: too big, and too pink, like it's advertising a gay bar, not a brothel.

Ricky displays no interest in any girl, not even the Wild Child whom he rescues.  In the end he drives away with his mother! 

My verdict: Gay, but not specifically stated.  Maybe viewers are supposed to deduce that he's gay because Mario Casas has played so many gay guys in the past.

My Grade: B+.