by Whitney Weiss
The first time I saw it, I swear, it was love at first sight.
Except, that had never happened with me and a movie before.
I don’t even remember what initially introduced me to Y Tu Mama,
Tambien, but I knew it was a film that I just had to see, and I
predicted that it would be the next independent movie to make the
jump to mainstream consciousness in America (essentially, it was to
Mexico what Amelie was to France).
The problem with thinking that something is going to be absolutely
amazing is that, often, it cannot possibly live up to your
expectations. Max and my friend Alex both decided to trek with me to
Gainesville, and to all of our glee, the film indeed was all that I
expected and much more.
On the surface, Y Tu Mama, Tambien is a road-trip/coming-of-age
movie. Two best friends Tenoch (upper-class) and Julio (middle
class) are your typical 17 year-old boys. They like sex, drugs, and
whacking off (especially on diving boards at the local country
club). This is the summer between high school and the university.
Their girlfriends are off to Italy, and after saying good-bye in the
airport, the two boys set out for a few months of fun. At an
extremely prestigious wedding for Tenoch’s cousin (the president is
even in attendance), the boys run into Luisa, a beautiful older
woman who has married one of Tenoch’s cousins. A bit drunk, the two
invite her to Heaven’s Mouth, a beach that doesn’t exist. Something
happens in her life that changes her “no” to a “yes,” and the trio
is off in Julio’s sister’s car.
These surface details sound somewhat conventional, but in the hands
of director Alfonso Cuaron, who wrote this screenplay with his
brother years ago, it is anything but. Under the surface, these boys
and their country are action-packed with issues, many of which
reveal themselves in unexpected ways as the movie progresses. There
is a very complicated relationship between the two best friends,
which grows even more complex as their journey with Luisa continues.
Though very much a story about growing up, through the road-trip
aspect of Y Tu Mama, Tambien, the land of Mexico becomes a vital
character that parallels the surface action. The boys and their love
interest pass cows, shantytowns, drug-busts, and more. As they
drive, Luisa asks Tenoch and Julio about their lives and
girlfriends, and playfully teases them into revealing quite a few
details about their sex lives.
I will not tell you if Luisa has sex with one or both of her
companions, but regardless, she lets them in on a secret that they’d
yet to realize—sex is as much about giving as receiving. For these
two, who have a manifesto that encourages mucho masturbation,
pleasuring their girlfriends in a way other than “sticking it to
them” is quit the new concept.
This movie is unrated because of its sexual content, but I must
state here that the sex is not offensive—rather, it is realistic.
You know that America needs to reexamine things when a boy fucking
baked goods is fine, but high school sex that resembles actual high
school sex is shocking. The entire sexual outlook of this movie is
refreshing to say the least, and feminists will be tickled pink
during one scene where it is woman commanding nervous, naked man.
Cuaron and his brother have written sex how it is actually had.
The portrayal of sex was not the only unconventional thing in Y Tu
Mama, Tambien. At times, the soundtrack goes silent, and a narrator
gives us some details about character thoughts or history of the
land. Be it the origin of Tenoch’s nanny, or history of a gruesome
car wreck, the narration has somewhat the effect that Run Lola Run’s
super-fast forwarding did. Cuaron doesn’t go overboard with this
technique, nor does he go overboard with his method of shooting. The
camera,sometimes slightly shaky, follows waiters in a restaurant
into the kitchen, hanging on them for a second too long, so that
viewers feel somewhat awkward,as if they are seeing something they
shouldn’t be. This repeated effect greatly adds to the film.
As far as acting goes, both young males were excellent. Gael Garcia
Bernal (Julio) is in another movie, Amores Perros, which you should
check out, and I expect good things from Diego Luna (Tenoch). Both
were better than actors in American teen movies. Their chemistry
with Maribel Verdu was every director’s dream, and it led to an
explosive visual representation of an excellent script.
It is not known at the time if YTu Mama, Tambien will make it to
Jacksonville, but I urge you to demand it—perhaps it shall arrive by
recommendation. If not, the drive to Gainesville is well worth it. I
cannot fit into a review how impressed I was. This is the first
must-see movie of the twenty-first century.
