Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)



Who's in it?: Diego Luna (Open Range, Rogue One), Gael García Bernal (Coco, Mozart in the Jungle), and Maribel Verdú (Pan's Labyrinth).

What's it about?: Two teenage bros (Luna and García Bernal) take a road trip with a grown-up woman (Verdú) and learn something about themselves.

How is it?: It's fascinating to contrast Y Tu Mamá También with Alfonso Cuarón's previous film, Great Expectations. Expectations is all about sensuality through what you can't see, but only imagine. That's a lot of what the story is actually about and it's certainly the approach that Cuarón takes to presenting it.

Mamá, on the other hand, leaves nothing to the imagination. The story is about sex, specifically as thought about and experienced by its male protagonists. Cuarón appropriately presents it with as much subtlety as teenaged boys approach sex: none at all.

Taking nothing away from Cuarón's thoughtfulness about his material (I like how there's no easy, clean wrap up; this is a messy tale) and his amazing skill in presenting it (the road trip through Mexico is beautiful), Mamá isn't for me. I hated spending time with Luna and García Bernal's characters and though my heart went out to Verdú's, this really isn't her story.

Rating: Two out of five worried women.

2 comments:

Paxton said...

I'm so glad you didn't like this movie. I watched it around the time Harry Potter 3 came out because it was Cuaron. I just didn't enjoy the two male leads or going on their journey with them.

Honestly, now that I think about it, that may be why I had so many problems with Diego Luna as Cassian Andor, because I dislike this movie so much.

Michael May said...

That makes sense. I'm kinda glad I'm just seeing it now, because I might have had the same reaction.

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