A movie’s meaning changes with your state of mind at the time you see it. Perhaps it influences your philosophy on life or highlights all those thoughts you move towards the back of your mind. The unconscious effect of art is what makes it so special.
I can’t think of a better movie to help you reflect on our college-age lives than “Y tu mamá también,” a bittersweet erotic journey through life by director Alfonso Cuarón (“Children of Men”). The MPAA may say the film is too pornographic for American audiences, but it obviously takes a hormonal, horny teenage boy to see so much more truth and honesty in the tale.
Two boys, Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna), are transitioning away from their carefree, sex-obsessed teenage years and attempting to avoid the prospect of moving on to attend a university, or eventually, to real life. The two best friends are left alone by their girlfriends for the summer, so they busy themselves with parties, drugs and taking advantage of Tenoch’s rich, upper-class family status.
They meet Luisa (Maribel Verdu), a female in her early thirties who married Tenoch’s uncaring and arrogant uncle. Verdu delivers the film’s most potent performance as the complex older female that teases, analyzes and educates the two boys about life. As the trio’s relationship sparks, Luisa receives news of her imminent death from cancer and decides to accompany the boys on a road trip to find Heaven’s Mouth, a secret beach fabled to be the most beautiful one on the Mexican coast.
Along their trip, Tenoch and Julio discover much about themselves and life. Among the most powerful discovery is the fragility of friendship and human connections; the only thing really constant in our lives, they find, is the world that we live in (though Cuarón will question this later in “Children of Men”). Life experiences shape us for better or for worse and we must appreciate each one. After all, they will not last.
While it remains a brutally honest coming-of-age story at the core, the film also pairs the main characters’ story line with political narratives about harsh realities and the corrupt government in modern day Mexico.
Alfonso Cuarón is my favorite director. Ever. He has an uncanny style that is obsessed with the import of narrative substance. His filming techniques are tailored specifically to intensify every emotion you feel whether to inspire feelings of happiness, suspense, sadness, disgust or just life. In a sense, he knows how to remove the ‘film’ from the story and invest the viewer in the lives of each character as if they were demonstrating real life.
Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna also share an amazing chemistry onscreen, seen in the way they portray the ideal of two best friends. The two actors, as well as Carlos Cuarón, the co-writer of “Y tu mamá también” are all reuniting for a film to be released this summer titled “Rudo y Cursi.” It will be interesting to see how they handle the duo’s cult status from “Y tu,” and if this film will live up to their past success.
At the end of “Y tu,” just as the characters are transformed, the long journey to the beach helps to awaken and revise the viewer’s perspective on life as well. As the narration says, “give yourself away to the ebb and flow of the waves.” If for nothing else, you college kids will at least get to see some wild sex scenes and drug abuse, right?
