Monika’s Pensieve

{FILM DIARY}

Y tu mamá también (Mexico, 2001)

Seen: Monday, 13th April 2009 (VHS, repeat viewing)
Runtime: 105′
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Cast: Ana López Mercado, Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal
Production House: Anhelo Producciones, Besame Mucho Pictures
Plot: (from imdb)

In Mexico, two teenage boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

Trailer

Impressions In Short
This is a film that I never thought was *that* great and yet I keep coming back to it and enjoying it ;) In short it’s loads of sex and nudity, loads of profanity, a little bit of drugs, a nice cast, an interesting director and a nice warm story.

More About the Film
I re-watched it this time round because of Gael Garcia Bernal. I wanted to see more of him after Blindness and this is the only film of his that I have in my video and DVD collection at the moment. I should remedy that actually cause he’s one of those rare actors who are rather good and/or lucky at choosing film projects, so it’s not like I have to stack up in loads of shitty movies to be prepared for Gael phases ;)
AFAIK this is the film that properly started the careers of both Bernal and his co-star, Diego Luna. They even both won a “Best New Actor” award for it at the Venice film festival. I totally love Diego Luna too btw, but he tends to appear in films I’m less interested in and therefore I’ve seen much less of him :-/
This is also the film Alfonso Cuaron was best known for before he directed Harry Potter. As both films deal with the world of teenage boys somewhat, many film critics were trying to interpret Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban through this film, which lead to some strange results due to Y Tu Mama Tambien’s rather explicit nature ;) My favourite was how they interpreted the opening scene of Harry Potter as Cuaron’s way of implying masturbation. The scene was in fact taken from the book with hardly any changes and I doubt Rowling had intended such subtext ;)
This film is pretty heavy on the sex, but the fun thing about it is that it’s rather naturalistic and very unglamourous and ungainly sex ;) I remember that the previous times I watched it (which was probably a few years ago) I found the first 20 minutes or so a bit too vulgar, but it appears I’m now desensitised or something and no longer have that problem ;) I still think that the film gets much better once the road trip starts though.

Recommended?
Er, yes I think. I mean there has to be some reason for me notoriously coming back to this ;) It is graphic on the sex though, so if that sounds unsettling you’d best avoid it.