Editor's Note: I've been suffering from some web issues but we are back up and running. Here's my post from April 2nd.
Ok film fans since last night was officially my longest post (and I just barely scratched the surface of that topic!) let's make tonight a little shorter.
Y Tu Mamá También is the best road trip film made in the last decade. Seriously. This Oscar nominated screenplay, written and directed by Alfonso Cuaron (who is also responsible for the amazing Children of Men), is a road trip through contemporary Mexico that sends a newly impulsive, beautiful twenty-something woman and two teenage boys in search of an unspoiled bit of paradise. But like all road movies, it’s more about the journey than the destination. It’s about the moments in youthful life before things change, before paradise gets spoiled and adulthood starts to limit the possibilities of youth.
In the middle of a boring summer vacation, Mexico City teenagers Tenoch (Diego Luna) and Julio (the sublime Gael Garcia Bernal) meet the older Luisa (an amazing performance from Maribel Verdu) at a wedding. In a pathetic and transparent attempt to impress/seduce her they tell Luisa they are headed on a road trip to a beautiful, secret beach called Boca del Cielo (Mouth of the Sky). Dealing with more adult issues in her life, like her adulterous husband, Luisa is desperate for an escape and impulsively asks if she can join them on their trip.
Y Tu Mama Tambien was advertised and sold as a Mexican coming of age road trip film, which is essentially true. But that's like saying Moby Dick is a story about a whale. The film deals with themes of sexual discovery, class structure in Mexican society and self discovery. There is a serious film beneath the surface of the comedy here and below that lies a film as serious as any of Ingmar Bergman's works. Cuaron captures this slice of life tale with a playfulness that never works against the grave themes lingering below the film’s beautiful surface. It's an honest and frank look at life we rarely see in American cinema; that it is told through the eyes of people living in Mexico reminds us that no matter who or where we are there is no difference in the things we want, the way we live or the truths of human lives.
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