Review: "Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN" is a Serious and Sexy Standout

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 49 of 2024 (No. 1993) by Leroy Douresseaux

Y tu mamá también (2001)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:  Mexico; Language:  Spanish

Running time:  106 minutes (1 hour, 46 minutes)

MPAA – initially not rated

DIRECTOR:  Alfonso Cuarón

WRITERS:  Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón

PRODUCERS:  Alfonso Cuarón and Jorge Vergara

CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Emmanuel Lubezki (D.o.P.)

EDITORS:  Alfonso Cuarón and Alex Rodríguez

Academy Award nominee

DRAMA

Starring:  Maribel Verdú, Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Ana López Mercado, Nathan Grinberg, Verónica Langer, María Aura, Silverio Palacios, Mayra Serbulo, and Daniel Giménez Cacho (narrator)

Y tu mamá también is a 2001 Mexican coming-of-age comedy-drama and road film from director Alfonso Cuarón.  The title is Spanish for “And Your Mother Too.”  Y tu mama también follows two teenage boys and an older woman as they embark on a road trip with Mexico's late 1990s political upheaval as a backdrop.

Before Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Children of Men (2006) brought him mainstream acclaim, Mexican film director Alfonso Cuarón burst onto the international film scene with Y tu mama también.  It became one of the most talked about movies of 2002.

Y tu mamá también introduces rich teenage friends, Tenoch Iturbide (Diego Luna) and Julio Zapata (Gael García Bernal).  Abandoned by their girlfriends for the summer, they are on the prowl for new sexual experiences.  At a wedding, they meet the alluring Luisa Cortes (Maribel Verdú), the Spanish wife of one of Tenoch's relatives.  Both boys are smitten with her and try to impress her by weaving tales of Boca del Cielo – Heaven’s Mouth, a beautiful, secret beach.

Of course, there is no such place, but the boys are trying to get Luisa to join them on a road trip to the fictitious locale.  Although she at first declines the sweet offer, Luisa changes her mind when she receives two pieces of bad news practically simultaneously.  Once on the journey, however, the trio finds that their little escapade is riddled with conflict and sometimes interrupted by moments of seduction.

Y tu mama también is an original take on the road movie.  Occasionally harsh (lots of painful revelations and venomous quarrels between the two boys) and often funny (the good-matured ribbing and frank conversations among the trio), the film is filled with witty banter.  The poignancy is found in the fact that this coming of age journey that both strengthens and builds bonds also means that things are coming to an end.  The sense of death, finality, and dissolution infuses this film giving even the sun-drenched Mexican locale a melancholy air.

Y tu mama también is also politically astute, with Cuarón and his co-writer Carlos Cuarón nimbly and skillfully dropping in commentary about political corruption and fraud rampant throughout the corruption (via the narrator).  Cuarón also presents the rampant and widespread poverty among Mexican citizens offering it as a veritable visual feast.  Everywhere the boys go, there is abundant evidence of the impoverished lives of so many people.

Perhaps, Cunard's best choice as director is allow his film to feel so natural, especially in the acting of the three main actors: Maribel Verdú, Diego Luna, and Gael García Bernal who give smooth, flowing performances.  Cuarón doesn’t portray anything as being stages, and he presents this film as if we were peaking through a window that gives us an intimate view of these three lives in transition.  Cuarón doesn’t just put us there; he makes us feel.  That makes Y tu mama también such a wonderfully entertaining film that reaches out to touch the viewer on a personal level.

8 of 10

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Friday, November 15, 2024

NOTES:

2003 Academy Awards:  1 nomination: “Best Writing, Original Screenplay” (Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón)

2003 BAFTA Awards:  2 nominations:  “Best Film not in the English Language” (Alfonso Cuarón and Jorge Vergara) and “Best Screenplay – Original” (Alfonso Cuarón and Carlos Cuarón)

2002 Golden Globes:  1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Mexico)

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