Friday, December 16, 2011

Day 240 - Y Tu Mama Tambien

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) directed by Alfonso Cuaron




I'm finding a really hard time coming up with something to write about so I'll just make a couple observations and random thoughts rather than some kind of long winded essay. Hopefully these observations will amount to something meaningful and I would have done this film some justice.

Y Tu Mama Tambien is a road trip coming of age story with super heightened eroticism and sexuality. While I'm still trying to grasp the meaning of it all, I'll just say that I enjoyed the film but didn't really love it as I hoped I would. It seems strange to say that you were disappointed in a film that you really liked; I just guess my expectations were absurdly high after all the good things I've heard. My main concern was that I didn't really understand or couldn't identify that unique quality that puts this film over the top, so I'm not going to try to pretend by commenting on something I really don't understand. But by that same token, there is undoubtedly something special going on in the film. Maybe it is the natural chemistry of the three characters or the adventure together that hooked me in, but I was intrigued all the way through. Maybe I'm just like Tenoch and Julio at heart, overzealous kids preoccupied with sex.

One thing that kind of bugged me was just how obnoxious Tenoch and Julio are. They're not massive douchebags or anything, but just annoying enough to get under my skin. I can only imagine how I was at their age, basically an immature kid (I still am one, but that's a different matter all together). That's why the whole cougar angle seemed so bizarre to me. What does this sophisticated older woman Luisa see in these two kids? They are so beneath her, intellectually, emotionally and sexually, as I would imagine it is in the majority of these scenarios. I think it typically boils down to some women like the eagerness and exuberance (read horniness) of young men and like to teach.

Isn't it kind of hypocritical of Luisa to be so upset at her cheating husband yet seduce these two young kids who have girlfriends of their own? Yet when you look back on key scenes you realize this is not what she is really upset about. Knowing what you know at the end it reveals a lot of her motivations and action throughout the film. The same can be said of the relationship between Tenoch and Julio after you see the key scene at the end.

Since Tenoch always wanted to be a writer I just assumed that he was the narrator of film telling this road story sometime in the future. I wonder if that is how others saw it as well.

I know this feels incomplete and all but I'm sad to admit that all of this took me over 90 minutes to think of and write. I've been feeling the drag of this project the past month or so. Hopefully I can come out of this funk.

Grade: B+

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