Y Tu Mama Tambien
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Movie Reviews of Y Tu Mama Tambien
Movie Review: Utterly Breathtaking
Summary: 5 Stars
Tenoch and Julio are a couple of young adolescent men from very different backgrounds: Tenoch is from a privileged family in the elite Mexican political class while Julio's single mother is a secretary. They are nonetheless the best of friends, horsing around as adolescent males will with their farting and coarse humour while they wait to start university. Then, at a boring party, they meet the beautiful Luisa, rather older than they are and married to a cousin of Tenoch's. They mouth off about `Heaven's Mouth' a fabulous beach they have made up to impress her and urge her she should join them on a road trip there. The next day, to the astonishment of the two young men - who do not realize that in the meantime her husband has confessed that he has been unfaithful to her- she agrees to go...
This movie creeps up on you. The early scenes are quite amusing but I felt a bit disengaged - Julio and Tenoch are not, at this point in the proceedings, particularly easy to like. But then the emotional plot starts to thicken and matters get more and more complicated all with a relentless and entirely gripping poetic logic. By the end of it I was more or less speechless. It's an outrageously beautiful, wonderfully truthful movie. There are very few road movies that bring such depth to the great central metaphor of that genre. And while there are many thousands of movies that clearly consider themselves `erotic' and are not, this is one of the very few that really earns that potent little adjective. Absolutely unmissable.
Movie Review: Not a stereotypical film
Summary: 5 Stars
On the surface, Y Tu Mama Tambien is a road trip movie. The plot is formulated around two teen boys' and one woman's expedition to a fabled, secluded Mexican beach. The movie carries a good sense of humor like most American road trip movies, but it is not a strict comedy-genre piece. There is an overwhelming realism about the two teens that is often overlooked in American films about adolescence like American Pie or Scream, for instance. They are not characterized by a single role or stereotype and their personalities are realistically conflicting: they fight, make fart jokes, ignore their surroundings, and have moments of real compassion and incredibly mature perception. The Spanish woman that travels with them is also a brilliant characterization. She is incredibly honest and [] liberated. The interaction between this woman (who does not pretend to embody a childlike innocence) and the two teens is revealing and refreshingly uninhibited.Y Tu Mama Tambien is really two parallel stories. One is of the road trip of the upper-middle class teens and woman, the other is of the landscape and people that they encounter. There is a voice over during the film that briefly explains the background and/or future of a specific setting. Some of the most interesting storyline happens in the background of the trio's expedition.
Y Tu Mama Tambien is a worthwhile piece. It is a lively portrait of adventure and human interaction. It deserves praise for its fearless representation of what life is really all about: "to love [] and life!"
Movie Review: "Life is like the surf, so give yourself away like the sea"
Summary: 5 Stars
Y tu Mama Tambien is alot of things: Sexy, Poignant, funny, sad, vibrant, honest, life-affirming, and in my opinion it is one of the best films of the 2000's. I remember I saw this film on the IFC channel a few years back when I was 16, and I was completly shocked by it. I remember having very mixed feelings about it, and associated it to soft core porn. After revisiting Y tu Mama Tambien again, I can say that my comment was idiotic. But in my own defense it is understandable for people to have these thoughts when only childish views of sex are allowed in this country, while any sort of honesty towards the subject is met with scrutiny and the NC-17 stamp by the MPAA (Or The league of Old Homophobic conservatives). In my honest opinion, their so called "protect our children's minds against sexuality but not violence" ideologies has done way more harm then good.
Now that I've matured a tad, I have to say the film has become one of my favorites. It is a beautiful journey that this film takes us through and everytime it ends I just want to start it over again. The Acting is exceptional from all of the leads, and there are so many layers to this film that you could view it countless times before finding them all. But when it comes down to it, the film is about life. How it can be sweet, vibrant, but also sad and bitter. But it's always worth living through. I think it's a shame that films like this can't be made here, while we have idiotic trash clogging up the cinemas. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Movie Review: Macho chatter, ribald jokes and a very real and human story
Summary: 5 Stars
This Mexican film by director Alfonzo Cuaron is about more than the seemingly simple plot. Two teenage boys have just seen their girlfriends off for a summer in Europe. Bored, and with raging hormones, they invite a slightly older woman on a road trip. When she discovers her husband has been cheating on her, she agrees. What follows is funny, bittersweet and filled with outrageous carnal experiences as they travel through a Mexico with wide social and political disparities.Gael Garcia Bernal is cast as Julio, the rich boy who attends parties where there are more bodyguards than guests. Diego Luna is his middle-class friend. Both are excellent actors and their macho chatter and ribald jokes kept me giggling throughout. Miribel Verdu is cast as Luisa, who joins them on their trip and teaches them a thing or two about life in general and details of eroticism in particular. She is a sensual beauty and the focus of every scene.
There is also a voice-over narration, which points out details along the road such as accidents that happened several years ago or the place where a servant in Julio's home had been born. All this is background for the three main characters though, whose joyful romp is filled with fun and erotic discoveries. The dialog is explicit and real and the situations very human.It is not until the ending though that it all gets tied together, and, like the characters, I was sad and yet filled with a sense of completion and a deeper understanding of the fragility of life. Recommended.
Movie Review: Sets a new standard for "road trip" films
Summary: 5 Stars
Of course, it's more than a "road trip" film, but the action does revolve around a long car trip to the ocean. The performances by the three main characters are outstanding because they don't seem like performances at all. The two guys talk the way real people do, interrupting each other, elaborating on something the other said, like two eager puppies trying to impress the older woman. She does a brilliant job of transforming herself from a virginal and naive wife of one of the boy's cousins, into a self-sufficient, independent woman who no longer tolerates the boys' nonsense. The movie shifts from being an exuberant celebration of youthful excess, to a more thoughtful and profound exploration of the nature of each of the three main characters. The last 20 minutes are a surprising conclusion, but totally in keeping with the rest of the film.
This is definitely a movie that engages the viewer from the very beginning and does not let go until long after the closing credits. I have found myself thinking about this movie much more than I usually do and am looking forward to watching it again very soon.
The video transfer is excellent, as is the Spanish Dolby surround audio track. Subtitles are generally well done, with colloquial English translations that are reasonable equivalents of the slang that permeates the film. There are very few extras on the DVD, but that's not really a problem. A film like this stands on its own.