Y Tu Mama Tambien
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Movie Reviews of Y Tu Mama Tambien
Movie Review: What films should be like
Summary: 5 Stars
Alfonso Cuarón directed this coming-of-age film about two teenagers who go on a road trip with an older woman, specifically the wife of one's cousin. Tenoch (Diego Luna) and Julio (Gael García Bernal from Amores Perros) are best friends who offer to take Luisa (Maribel Verdú) to a private beach they call Heaven's Mouth. Along the way, she seduces both of them and they bond in an even more lasting way. But love can hurt.
First off, this is a film for adults. The extreme amount of sexual talk, activity, and just plain nudity gave this unrated Mexican film a lot of controversial publicity. Otherwise, I may never have heard of it. (There is an R-rated version which I did not see, but I can't imagine what they would have had to cut out to receive that rating. There is a rumored cut--made to pass Mexican censors--that is ten minutes long.)
It also received rave reviews, which I will say right now it deserved. Y Tu Mamá También is one of the best films I saw in 2002. The acting is amazing. I believed that Tenoch and Julio had known each other since childhood although they were obviously two actors who had never met before.
And it's a fun film. Road trip movies usually are about the events encountered along the way and there are plenty of those, but this is more about what happens inside the car among the three vulnerable people: Luisa who has a secret, and Tenoch and Julio each hoping to be the one to receive her "attention."
Y Tu Mamá También is definitely worth a viewing, and is probably worthy of multiple viewings. It's one of those movies you watch and then cannot stop thinking about.
Movie Review: By far the best coming of age movie in the last few years.
Summary: 5 Stars
It's also a buddy movie & a road trip flick. It has two things (at least) that most of the others of its ilk don't have: mature humor, you know wit, & intelligence. Another thing: it is a foreign film. (Mexican) Another reason it may remain a small movie here, the fact that the uncensored version is unrated.
Two 17 year old boys, Julio & Tenoch say goodbye to their girlfriends for the summer. They are looking for something to do. At a party they meet & are inspired by the impossibly sexy Luisa ,27 years old & the wife of Tenoch's cousin. They tell her of their road trip to find a mythical private beach. Her marriage is crumbling & she finally accepts their invitation to join them.
Their education begins. but not just sexual, she civilizes them, how a women should be treated, wants to be treated & not merely a sex object. Their friendship is tested & they face some things they had not been aware of. Yes, there is nudity but it necessary to the story is not gratuitous. Where early naked scenes were very funny these with Luisa are sensitive & tasteful.
An unseen narrator interupts from time to time to provide exposition & move the story right along. It is useful at the end. These are characters you care for & it explains what happens to them after & how everything changes.
One tip: Please skip the tape from Blockbuster. Those prigs even censored the R version.
This film is flying beneath the radar of most kids. Its foreign & has English subtitles. If a 16-17 year old goes to the trouble to see this movie, they are probably mature enough to see a little [...]
Movie Review: Mexico 'Everyday' Steals The Scenes
Summary: 5 Stars
Y Tu Mama Tambien is a wild ride 'coming of age' movie that in most ways is predictable. Two boys out for any adventure exploit a chance meeting to invite a [little known to them 'distressed'] woman to invite her to [to the two boys] an imagined beach called 'The Mouth of Heaven.' The rest, as you can well imagine, is that the older woman takes them under her wing and they grow into men to enjoy the 'finer things in life.' Predictable, yes. However, there are twists and turns in the story, that defy telling here, that the viewer will find surprising and human -- if not humane. I can say no more. What I can say is this -- there are two things that stand out: Cuaron edits the film as if the unfolding were natural, and the scenery - the 'everyday' really make the movie. The editing is so refined that you do not feel jerked from one scene to another. The movie is done so well that even the a priori conditions of wealth and position seem believeable -- but that is part of the landscape -- at least that is how I read it. The contrast with the cityscape and the rural landscape juxtaposed to give one a sense of Mexican life is superb. The voice over technique really drives the points home as if the digressions were really the point. I have to thank Cuaron for giving me a perspective of Mexico I did not have before -- richer, fuller, and explained. This movie is not for the faint at heart. It is robust in its sexuality as well as its social commentary. Y Tu Mama Tambien is almost two movies in one that form a synergy that makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
Miguel Llora
Movie Review: Hot Sex on a Platter!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Whew!! That opening scene alone nearly did me in ... No Seriously. GREAT Movie, Good Performances by all. The 2 young actors.... Very Good, I hope I will see them in more movies. The woman OUTSTANDING!!! very convincing. This is more than just a tale of 2 young boys on the road with a older woman to whom they both have sex with. There is a real story here. There are glimpes into the Middle Class life in Mexico, the poverty and how it must be to be a "middle class" teenager in Mexico. I believe one of my fellow reviewers mentioned the Political under currents in the movie, yes, they are there but it doesn't take away from the movie I believe it was the writer and directors intent to let the viewers know what was going on in these young mens world. Tenoche (one the male characters) father was Secretary of State, Julio's (the other male character) sister was a protestor against the government.
I liked SO much about this movie. I find that I can't pinpoint them all, however I must mention that there are quite a few sexual scenes in it and I do not recommend it if you are not open to the possiblity of homosexuality, or if you find drug usage offensive then this may not be the movie for you.
One thing that I have noticed, lately with my Foreign Film selections, is that the movies don't always have a Happy ending. They don't tend to leave any loose ends, but it isn't always what you think it might be...... watch the movie it is rather a good pick.... and despite what you may have heard there is a very good story here.
Now I'm off to watch {Sex and Lucia}!!!
Respectfully Reviewed
Movie Review: Profound and Moving
Summary: 5 Stars
On the surface of Y Tu Mama Tambien, we are presented with a frolicking road trip movie that is laden with an unusual amount (by U.S. standards) of unapologetic sexuality. Beneath that veneer lays a beautiful coming of age story. Even if it is taken for nothing beyond these aspects, the work provides good entertainment and an inspiring story.
But, the reason this film moves me is found in a much deeper layer - one that gives those apparent, dime-a-dozen plot devices a reason to exist. Y Tu Mama Tambien has something (or, rather, a great many somethings) to say, and it says them beautifully. It's about loyalty, honesty, economic divide, problems in sexuality, societal pressures, repressed emotions, love vs. lust, etc., etc., etc.
It's a contemplation of a point in a few individuals' lives where they are confronted with possibilities that could drastically alter the course of the rest of their lives, and how their lives were changed regardless of the fact that they ran from those possibilities. It's also a depiction of how we have to make decisions that effect the welfare of the people we come in contact with, and how the best decision may hurt both the decider and the person by whom they are hoping to do right.
In a nutshell, it's about life - the dilemmas we are all faced with, the pain and joy that both inevitably result from virtually every decision we make, and the impossibility of controlling the complex experience that comes between birth and death.
Y Tu Mama Tambien is beautifully written, directed, acted, and filmed.