Y Tu Mama Tambien
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Movie Reviews of Y Tu Mama Tambien
Movie Review: The End of Innocence
Summary: 5 Stars
Often described as one part buddy-film, one part road-film, and one part coming-of-age film, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN offers the story of two teenage wannabe studs who coax a slightly older and somewhat more sophistocated woman into a road trip to the beach--never dreaming that the woman might have a personal agenda of her own. The premise is hardly an original one, but in the hands of director Alfonso Cuarón and a truly remarkable cast the result is absolutely astonishing.As a number of people have pointed out, Tenoch (Diego Luna) and Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) are not entirely likeable characters: they are thoughtless, self-indulgent, crass, and rarely think above their belts or beyond the next joint. But their encounter with Ana (Ana López Mercado) will shake them out of their adolescent-inspired sense of superiority in more ways than one: as their friendly rivalry for Ana's favors escalates into open jealousy, their revelations demonstrate that they are no less hypocritical than the pompous and corrupt adult society against which they so pointedly rebel.
The film is unexpectedly satirical, neatly adopting a "boys will be boys" smile and then quietly but sharply undercutting it by transient images of poverty, decay, and death that the trio encounter as they move out of their rather sheltered existences in Mexico City and travel the backroads to the sea--images that the boys ignore with a youthful zeal but which foreshadow and then underscore the series of punches the film delivers at its conclusion. The cast is impressive, with Luna and Bernal the very image of thoughtless, vulgar youth, while Mercado is remarkable as Ana, a woman in her late twenties who seems to be fleeing from a faithless husband and seeking revenge in casual sex but who secretly has a still more weighty motive behind her actions.
The film has a great deal of nudity and sexual activity; there is also considerable drug use and profanity. A great deal has been made of that, and particularly of the intense kiss between Luna and Bernal--but ulitmately Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN is less about sex, drugs, and youthful excess than it is about responsibility in relationships and how failure to keep trust can have devastating consequences in platonic, romantic, and sexual relationships. The DVD package is quite nice, with several interesting bonuses, and although the subtitles are in white they are easy to read. Overall, an impressive film--but one perhaps best viewed by middle-agers with some perspective than by the youth it satirizes. Recommended.
Movie Review: A teen sex movie as Chekhov might have written it.
Summary: 5 Stars
There will never be an American film like "Y Tu Mama Tambien"--certainly not as long as the Weitz and Farrelly brothers hold sway in Hollywood. Alfonso Cuaron takes the basic plot of a Hollywood teen sex comedy--two rowdy teens take the woman of their dreams on a road trip to the beach--and makes something amazingly nuanced, powerful and moving from it. Middle-class Julio and wealthy, politically connected Tenoch are recent high-school graduates looking forward to a summer of hot sex and getting wasted. At a wedding reception, they meet Luisa, the sexy wife of Tenoch's older cousin, and spin a tall tale about Heaven's Mouth, the beautiful, secluded (and nonexistent) beach where they plan to spend their summer. Nothing more is said about this until--after receiving two very bad pieces of news--Luisa calls Tenoch and tells him she's coming with them. From then on, you get some traditional road-trip horseplay and sexual badinage, but also some things American audiences wouldn't expect, as the trip simultaneously fulfills Julio and Tenoch's brightest dreams and brings their illusions crashing down to earth. A trip that begins in youthful high spirits ends in lasting sorrow and painful self-knowledge. Throughout the movie, Cuaron has an omniscient narrator tell us facts Julio, Tenoch and Luisa never learn about each other; he also has a running commentary on characters the three pass on their way--poor and oppressed Mexicans who will never know the luxuries the protagonists take for granted. The political and class divisions of Mexico are a powerful undercurrent in this movie, adding to its sting and poignancy; the moment in which Tenoch and Julio finally turn their class resentments on each other comes unexpectedly, but inevitably. "Y Tu Mama Tambien" is extremely profane and contains loads of explicit sex--it is emphatically not for the easily offended. But in delineating the narrow lives of his three main characters, Cuaron illuminates universal truths about human nature, with a touch so sure you'd swear that Chekhov had been transplanted to 21st-Century Mexico. Maribel Verdu (Luisa), Gael Garcia Bernal (Julio) and Diego Luna (Tenoch) are superb actors as well as being extremely sexy, and one hopes that more movies starring them will make their way across the border.Movie Review: Not sure I agree this mainly a 'coming of age' or 'road movie'
Summary: 5 Stars
I see "Y Tu Mama Tambien" as so outrageously and unremittingly libidinous as to put it outside the realm of a routine "road movie" or "coming-of-age" movie.
Most coming of age movies ("Summer of '42," "The Last Picture Show") tend to show a slightly older woman showing a youngster the ropes.
"Y Tu Mama Tabien" has randy teenagers, yes, but they not shy and repressed by any stretch. Julio and Tenoch are spectacularly frank and uninhibited with the slightly older, unhappily married woman who agrees to drive with them to find the lyrical, possibly apocryphal beach known as "Heaven's Mouth."
To me, this film tells us something about sexual geography. The girls and boys in Mexico city rut spectacularly and can squeeze in a 30-second quickie, beginning to end, before their parents come in the room to check on them. They have an open pre-occupation with sex and a partner tally that eclipses even that of the United States.
Still, notions of propriety apply to other liaisons. ** SPOILER ALERT ** As is often the case, more exotic sexual encounters -- with mature women, with each other homosexually -- require the boys to leave their everyday world and depart for the liminal, alternative reality offered by travel. And for their female companion, ** SPOILER ALERT AGAIN ** Louisa, she acts on her most primitive impulses to have sex with the youths only when the inhibitions against such behavior are removed by several factors: travel to a place where she is a stranger, anger at her husband's infidelity and knowledge that she has a terminal illness.
In other words, despite the freewheeling atmosphere depicted in Mexico City, the social constraints against women such as Louisa carrying on with Julio and Tenoche are incredibly powerful, such that only her impending mortality outweighs the risk of being viewed as a slut.
The traveler will also note ruefully the beauty of wonderfully named, replete with meaning "Heaven's Mouth" locale and that it is symbolically destroyed by pigs who invade the boys' campsite and plans for a large hotel development that will put the local fisherman who offers side trips out of business. Hopefully the actual location shown can avoid this fate.
Movie Review: And Here's to You, Mrs. Verdú
Summary: 5 Stars
Image a much more overtly sexual "The Graduate." Transplant the setting to Mexico. Make Benjamin Mexican, younger (17), and give him a best friend. Make Ms. Robinson younger (28), Spanish, gorgeous, and give her a deep secret. Now imagine a road trip movie, but one with intelligence, sensitivity, and depth (in addition to the usual sex, drugs, and rock & roll).
Got it? You now have the foundation for a delightful, thought-provoking film-- Y Tu Mama Tambien.
I really loved this film. It perfectly captures the coming of age adventures of young men. There is only one thing on the top of their minds, and this film gives a realistic, frank look into those minds. The sub-plots deal with deeper issues: friendship, honesty, trust, commitment, betrayal, sexual identity, death, memory, class, Mexican culture, and politics- all blended into a delightful, beautiful film.
Julio and Tenoch (Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna) are superb as the raging-hormoned 17 year olds. They mix machismo, sensitivity, recklessness, teen stupidity, and soul-searing, life-changing discovery. As the older woman, Maribel Verdú, Luisa Cortes shines. She is gorgeous, frail, emotionally shattered, strong, in control, and teaches the two young men about the richness of sex.
There is a LOT of sex in this film; after all, it is about two seventeen year old boys, on a road trip with a gorgeous older woman whose husband just confessed to infidelities. Maribel Verdú has reason to experience new sexual adventures; she talks intimately and frankly with the boys about sex, and Julio and Tenoch are willing students. Director Alfonso Cuarón gives us a view of real sex, raw sex. The film is frank about the psyche of teenage boys-- a lot of talk (and action) related to self-gratification and sexual acts of all sorts. But it is handled differently from most American teen sex films: not the brainless, sniggering, puerile portrayal but rather the naked facts of life and love. If you are offended by such frankness, this is not a film for you. But if you would like a film that directly and beautifully deals with the subject, you will love Y Tu Mama Tambien.
Movie Review: Delightful, meaningful coming of age movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Adult-themed movies are rarely made these days in America, the country which, ironically, is the porn capital of the world. The MPAA's rating system is confusing and often contradictory. No studio wants the dreaded `NC-17' rating because, among other reasons, many newspapers and TV stations won't carry ads for movies so rated. To me, it's a sad, hypocritical situation. Fortunately, other countries do make movies for adults. "Y Tu Mama Tambien" is from Mexico, and, while its graphic depiction of sexual situations may seem startling to American audiences, it is far more honest, compelling and intelligent than its timid, childish American counterparts. ["American Pie" is a perfect example.]Two teenagers, Julio and Tenoch [Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna] are looking forward to the pleasures of summer. They've just graduated from high school, and their girlfriends are going off to Italy for an extended stay. After biding the girls a fond farewell, the boys set out to have as much fun as they can. At a fancy party, they meet Luisa [Maribel Verdu], the wife of Tenoch's cousin. The pair is smitten by the older woman. Impulsively, they invited her to take a road trip with them to a beach they know called Heaven's Mouth. She politely refuses. Later, when she catches her husband being unfaithful, she announces that she is ready to see the beach. [Her real reason for going is not revealed until the film's final scene.] The problem is that the guys made the beach up. Despite this technical problem, the trio sets out for the long drive to the ocean. At the end of the journey, they find a wonderful surprise. Along the way, Luisa teaches both young men how to treat a woman. They also learn other, more serious lessons about life.
On the surface, this is a comedic `road trip' movie, one of the best ever made. Beneath the surface, there lies a poignant, meaningful coming of age tale.
This lively, well acted and beautifully photographed film is highly recommended for adults but not for children, for whom it was never intended.
In Spanish with English subtitles.