|
|
        |
     |
 Y Tu Mamá También (2002)Rated:R for strong sexual content involving teens, drug use and language. Runtime: 105 mins. Director: Alfonso Cuarón Writer: Alfonso Cuarón, Carlos Cuarón Tagline: La vida tiene sus maneras de enseñarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de confundirnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de cambiarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de asombrarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de herirnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de curarnos. La vida tiene sus maneras de inspirarnos.. Cast: Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna ....complete cast Genre: Comedy/Drama/Romance Most memorable quote: "Luisa:You have to make the clitoris your best friend. Tenoche: What kind of friend is always hiding?"
Review by Frank Wilkins
Tenoch Iturbide (Diego Luna) and Julio Zapata (Gael Garcia Bernal), a couple of Mexico City teenagers, are looking forward to a summer away from their girlfriends as they send them off to Europe for vacation. Tenoche and Julio spend most of their idle time getting high, fantasizing about Salma Hayek and masturbating on the diving boards of the pool at Tenoche's country club. They attend a wedding at the Iturbe family hillside villa where they meet the beautiful, but older Spaniard, Luisa (Maribel Verdu), the wife of one of Tenoche's distant cousins. In their drunken charm and bravery, they jokingly invite her to accompany them on a trip to a secluded beach known as "Boca de Cielo" or "Heaven's Mouth". "We can drink from coconuts and we'll bring plenty of 40s." Of course the beach doesn't exist and of course they don't expect Luisa to accept their invitation - that is until the next morning when Luisa accepts their invitation, and on the surface it looks as if she is seeking revenge on her philandering husband when in actuality she may be seeking something else. Their journey in a beat up American station wagon becomes a lust filled, multi-layered narrative that contradicts your natural suppositions as to the characters and their intentions. The passing countryside becomes a vignette of their own lives as a voice-over narrator cuts in frequently, telling us about the roadside scenery. They pass funerals that foreshadow their own vulnerabilities, quinceñeras (15th birthday coming out celebrations) that symbolize their own coming of age, roadside deaths, poverty stricken barrios and anti-government demonstrations that parallel the stages of their own experience. And "Heaven's Mouth" that supposedly doesn't exist, holds deep, dark symbolism in its finality of their journey. Julio and Tenoch inform Luisa of the manifesto of their personal club, "the Charolastras" named after romantic Mexican cowboys that includes among other things - whack off every day, get high at least once a day, and truth is cool but unattainable. To the young boys, the journey is an exercise in exploration, asking questions and learning to tell and face the truth. To the older Luisa the journey is one of searching for answers and teaching them about women and life in general. Directed and co-written by Alfonso Cuarón (Great Expectations, 1998), Y Tu Mamá También, is a wonderful piece of art in itself, displaying the colors and textures of Mexico using hand-held camera technique that makes us feel as if we're intimate participants in the journey of the three travelers. Through the honest, true-to-life script we become accepted voyeurs in their sexual encounters and their drunken coming of age stories. Y Tu Mama También is not shy and holds nothing back. Much like the very explicit love scenes and frontal male nudity, the warmth of emotions and feelings are laid out in the middle of the road and the participants are left to try and understand the brutality of truth and its consequences. Y Tu Mama También receives a zero in the macho factor due to all the male nudity, despite the appearance of Maribel Verdu as the lovely Luisa. Guys, if you can't get lucky after watching this one with your significant other, you've got an interesting set of issues that needs to be addressed. It is actually quite beautiful, sad and thought provoking, so I give it a high "Of Mice and Men" factor and "Se7en" factor. My dislike of subtitles prevent me from giving it a perfect five in the overall "reel rating". Screen formats: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 Subtitles: English. Sound: Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 Other Features: Color; interactive menus; scene access; deleted scenes; making-of featurette; audio commentary; bonus short film; TV spots; trailer.
return to top |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
Home | Reviews | Review Archives | Reel News | Trailers | Links | About | Staff
Submit Review | Morbidly Hollywood | Rating Categories | Contact Us |