Y Tu Mama Tambien
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.74 You Save: $10.24 (68%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.09 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Y Tu Mama Tambien
Movie Review: Mr. Cuaron always delivers!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Y Tu Mama Tambien" is a bold, fantastic movie by one of today's most innovative directors, Alfonso Cuaron. Although he is well-known for such efforts as "The Little Princess" or the fantastic "Great Expectations", "Y Tu Mama Tambien" is his signature piece-of-art, which directly influenced the Warner Bros. corporation to give him the third Harry Potter movie to direct. Why? Seems like Mr. Cuaron knows teenagers.
And he does, which is proven by this movie. "Y Tu Mama Tambien" is about two teenage boys that are very sexual, and use sex as a ticket to their manhood. However, they are about to go on a road trip with a much older woman which is going to change their friendship, their lives and their viewpoints on life forever. It is one of those movies that can be understood on many levels - from a coming-of-age story to a softcore porno, if you will. However, there are so many themes this movie hides under the surface, it is almost claustrophobic. The exciting shots of these kids road tripping are connected with the lowest social class of Mexico and it forms a great contrast.
Yes, this movie has a lot of sexual content, full nudity and some very explicit sexual scenes. However, it helps create the reality of teenagers, their fears and their excitement. For a teenage boy, there is only one thing in the world to think about, and that is, undoubtedly, sex. All the scenes in these movies are shot in one long take, which showcases the incredible talent of these, almost incognito, actors. The camera and the direction is always top-notch, capturing contrasts in moods, colors and lifestyles.
If you like this movie (and chances are, you will), check out some other movies that deal with kids and their discoveries of everything life has to offer, try Fellini's "Amarcord"or Tornatore's "Malena", with Monica Belucci in the role of her career. Seems like foreign movies deal with the issues of growing up and grasping reality better than the American ones, and if that is the case, "Y Tu Mama Tambien" is a good place to start.
Movie Review: A Breathtaking Exploration of Life
Summary: 5 Stars
This film could easily have turned into a typical coming-of-age story peppered with farcical sexual episodes. But under the masterly direction of Cuaron, the story of the two teenagers and one woman who bring them into the adult world through her own mortality becomes something magical and enthralling. The film is an ardent paean to life - it extols the beauties of youth without sentimentalizing or belittling it. The sexual urges of the young boys, and the terrible forward-moving current of them, are lovingly told. What sets this film apart from other movies are the specificities. The masturbations scenes, the funny manifestos these boys write for themselves to keep their friendship, etc... all these things are utterly believable, and real. This makes the climax and the denouement of the movie more heartbreaking and effective, because the passage of youth into adulthood tears down the beautiful romanticism of their youths, and the viewers are reminded of the universal rite of passage, when beauties of every youth must give way to a realization of inevitable mortality. This is universal filmmaking at its finest. One of the most interesting features of the film is the narrator's side-comments. Seemingly these comments don't seem to matter directly to the story as they touch on the tangential elements and characters of the movie. But as these accumulate, and in the context of the main thrust of the movie, the narration always intimates that there's more life than what's immediately depicted. By commenting that there's a teeming world beyond the main storytelling, the filmmaker is reminding us of the breathtaking fullness, joy, and sadness of the world that's around us.
It's a relief to see films like this made. It bodes well for Mexico, as the country continues to make unbelievably good movies. I hope the shameless commercialism and blandness that pervades the movie market in the U.S. don't infiltrate that country and the artists that make these films.
Movie Review: Very nearly a perfect movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Y Tu Mama Tambien is a solid film about the bond between two teenage boys and how that bond is challenged when a woman comes between them. The two boys meet one of their(unhappily)married female cousins at a family function and just on a whim the boys ask her to join them for a week at a remote beach. To their surprise she agrees. One thing that keeps the story interesting and gives it its unique perspective is that the movie is spiced throughout with little narrative asides which comment on the course different lives take. The boys are young and full of energy and enthusiasm. The slightly older and very sexy cousin at first seems like the summers big score but soon the boys are at odds with each other as they each try to win her attention and then they are odds with each other when they must confront the "truths" of their own friendship.
As the movie progresses the two boys story of innocence and the end of it is contrasted with the cousins story of experience and her desire for a last taste of the innocence the boys will soon be losing. The film feels very loose and free capturing the boys in moments of fun as well as moments of conflict but it is very well constructed. Many films try to capture youth and never seem to get it right but this one gets both the passion and the pain of being on the cusp of adulthood just right. It also gets the pain and passion of early adulthood just right as well as the cousin and her unique situation and how she deals with it is just as memorable and central to the film as the two boys story is.
It has the feel of a light and breezy comedy in parts and yet in other parts it offers the insight associated with a serious drama. A rare and honest and bold study of what youth feels like. Very nearly a perfect movie. And a great soundtrack. And great cinematography. And yes it is very very sexy! Offering interesting insight into the different forms passion can take.
Movie Review: Sex, death and the open road.
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first heard about Y Tu Mama Tambien, I had it described to me as something like an "erotic road movie set in Mexico about two young guys taking a trip with an older, sexually experienced woman." Well, all that is true but that is really just scratching the surface. It's about friendship, coming to terms with who you are, the ties that bind us together, how people come and go out of our lives, class differences, what it means to be Mexican and perhaps more than anything, death. I think ultimately, that's what Y Tu Mama Tambien is ultimately about. However, it doesn't dwell on it, instead it offers death as an inevitable fact of life and in a sense celebrates it - without death, or at least the knowledge of it, we aren't truly alive.
The story is simple but excellent, I'm sure you know the gist of it so I won't get into it. What I really liked is that there is virtually no exposition in this film - characters do things for reasons that the viewer just has to go with but eventually their motivations will all begin to make sense.
All the actors are superb, particularly the three main leads Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal and Maribel Verdu. The three of them have a chemistry between them that is both natural and magnetic.
From a technical aspect, the film is superb. Cuaron is a superb director - he uses his settings perfectly and uses it as a means of transformation. The urban jungle of Mexico City makes way to civilization mixing with nature on the Mexican highway, to finally the breathtaking oceanside beauty of "Heaven's Mouth". As well, Cuaron favors long, uninterrupted takes and prefers to set his camera back and let things unfold naturally. Both of these create a unique and pleasurable viewing experience.
All in all, a superb film from a fantastic talent. Strongly recommended.
Movie Review: very good
Summary: 5 Stars
Y Tu Mama Tambien is a road movie directed by Alfonso Cuaron (Great Expectations). Set in Mexico we are introduced to two 17 year old boys having sex with their girlfriends. The girlfriends are about to leave for a trip to Italy so they are looking to get just a little bit more fun in before the trip. They leave, and Tenoch and Julio are left to find their own entertainments. They are part of Mexicos upper middle class and while at a party (thrown by one of their parents), they meet an older woman (in her late twenties). Not expecting her to accept, they invite Louisa to a fictitious beach called Heavens Mouth. After learning of her husbands infidelity, Louisa takes the trip. Tenoch and Julio pretend they know where they are going and head towards a beach they hope will really be there when they get there. This is a very sexual film, from the opening scenes to the denoument. There is a lot of discussion about sex, a fair amount of sex scenes (graphic and tender at the same time), and this just feels honest. We are not given nudity for the sake of nudity because in this film it feels essential to the ability to tell the story. The camera shows, but doesnt linger.
The road trip and the development of the characters are extremely well done and the film rises well above the concept of the source material. We see Tenoch and Julio begin to grow up and grow into the men they will likely become. They begin the movie very immature and only looking for sex, drugs, and hanging with their friends. This movie shows the first steps beyond their childhood. Y Tu Mama Tambien could have easily become a Mexican version of American Pie or Road Trip, but this is much, much better. Highly recommended with a warning of a lot of sex and nudity.