OTBB: Movie Club — Y tu mamá también (2001)
February 2024 - Love Triangles
Hello and welcome back to OTBB: Movie Club!
If you’ve been watching along, you’ll know that this week’s movie Y tu mamá también is a veritable masterpiece. Let’s get into it!
Notable Crew
Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Gravity, Roma)
Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki (Birdman, The Revenant, The Tree of Life)
Notable Cast
Diego Luna as Tenoch Iturbide (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story/Andor, The Terminal, Narcos: Mexico)
Gael García Bernal as Julio Zapata (Coco, Mozart in the Jungle, Old)
Maribel Verdú as Luisa Cortés (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Flash, Blancanieves)
Daniel Giménez Cacho as Narrator (Cronos, Zama, Memoria)
My Thoughts
I was expecting something great from Cuarón as Prisoner of Azkaban is the only Harry Potter movie I actually enjoy watching and Gravity is an exceptional space movie.
I was not expecting, however, to see a masterpiece of youthful recklessness and lust as a lens to examine a country transforming. This is done in simple yet effective ways, like having the trio of characters driving in a car and discussing sex while in the background we see gunmen stopping the poorer citizens of the country. The movie never judges the characters for not noticing what’s happening around them, though. It’s showing us that this is just how life happens; we can be so caught up in ours that we ignore bigger stories around us. In this case, the two boys just want to indulge in their primal urges, including masturbating five feet apart on diving boards at an empty country club they only have access to because of Tenoch’s dad.
It’s what childhood is supposed to be: innocent. These boys don’t know it, but they will be leaving that innocence behind in this story.
I love that as the sexual nature of Julio, Tenoch, and Luisa are explored, we get a gorgeous road trip exploration of the Mexico countryside. It’s a simple concept done perfectly. There’s an omniscient narrator as well that cuts in by eliminating all sound of the action to deliver a little more context to where they are or what a character is feeling but not saying. This adds a twinge of magical realism I found evocative of Tennessee Williams’ exemplary plays, like A Streetcar Named Desire and Suddenly, Last Summer.
The strength of this film lies in its fearlessness to tell this story. I can’t overexpress to you how erotic it is. But it has to be to tell this story. The performances are also key to the success of this film. The main trio had to be bold, and they are. It takes courage to be as vulnerable and unembarrassed as Luna, Bernal, and Verdú were. I found their freedom to be inspirational as a performer.
This will be a story that will sit with me for a long time. I’m sure it can be mined endlessly, as there’s a complex story I only glimpsed the surface of.
The Love Triangle
Participants: Luisa (Maribel Verdú), Tenoch (Diego Luna), and Julio (Gael García Bernal)
Rating: 6/6
Luisa: 2/2
Loves Tenoch ✓
Loves Julio ✓
She loves them for their carefree life and innocence
Tenoch: 2/2
Loves Luisa✓
Loves Julio ✓
Julio: 2/2
Loves Luisa ✓
Loves Tenoch ✓
Extra Materials
Reading
Sex, Class, and Mexico in Alfonso Cuaron's Y tu mama tambien
Video
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this movie in the comments!
A question I’m left wondering about is this:
The memory of this trip to the beach will obviously be something Tenoch and Julio hold on to forever. Do you think it’ll be a memory they will cherish and look at as a time of unfettered happiness? Or a bittersweet one, as the moment they lost their innocence and started “growing up?”
Next week’s watch: The Favourite | 2018
You can stream it on AMC+ or rent it from Apple TV, Amazon, Microsoft Store, YouTube.
Thanks for reading. Til next time!
— Colton
This made me want to watch it again. It’s been a long, long time.