Saturday, March 17, 2007

Review: Y Tu Mama Tambien

So, I'm about 6 years behind on my foreign films. I've always wanted to see "Y Tu Mama Tambien," especially after my friend Z had enthusiastically recommended it 3 years ago.

It was a lot more light-hearted than I expected. I've heard "sex and drugs" in relation to this movie, and thought, "oh, it's another one of those drug dealers, prostitution, violent movies." Was I wrong!

It's actually a good road-trip-through-Mexico-get-to-know-each-other-(in the Biblical sense ) -and-get-high-while-you're-at-it type of movie. It's absolutely steamy and calls for a nice margarita on the rocks to cool off.

I loved Gael Garcia Bernal in "Motorcycle Diaries," a film that has possibly one of the most beautiful cinematography of South America. "Y Tu Mama" reminded me of it in a way that ordinary people in the background add to the landscape and the story.

And, Diego Luna actually stayed in my mind for a long time after I saw.. gulp..embarrassed to say I saw this.. "Dirty Dancing 2 - Havana Nights." He was absolutely hot as a jalepeno in that movie. Movie was dumb as hell, but the dancing was intense.

Anyway, as a woman, I felt the storyline with the female character, Luisa, was stronger than the one for the two male leads. While this is the 'coming of age' story for the boys, it was an "awakening" for the woman. At the end, it is revealed why she had such a desire to suddenly live for every moment: "Life is like the surf, so give yourself away like the sea. "

It's also unbelievable that director Alfonso CuarĂ³n, also directed "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Children of Men." Gotta love the diversity and the creativity of such directors.

Also, I'm seeing on message boards that this is what teenaged boys are really like and what they really talk about. That's really scary! No wonder my father used to say, "Stay away from boys. I used to be one and I know exactly what they're thinking. Just stay away!"

One good thing about watching this movie so late is that everyone in the film has moved on to other projects, so I can catch up. I don't have to wait.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I liked the movie Y Tu Mama Tambien. I saw it first in English and then in Italian. THAT was confusing!

Anonymous said...

J,
Was the movie dubbed in Italian or was it in Spanish w/Italian subtitles?

We were playing with the closed captions on a Hindi DVD the other day (we set them on French). It's amazing how lyrics that are cheesy in Hindi, cheesier in English are just..sigh.. in French.

ZenDenizen said...

I loved the movie and wish that Diego could find as many interesting projects as Gael. I think you'd enjoy Bad Education, too if you haven't already seen it.

Anonymous said...

In Italy they don't use subtitles for anything. All films are dubbed.
at first it was amusing to see Wil Smith of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air open his mouth to have Italian words that didn't match come out, but then it just got confusing to even watch the actors at all. They use the same dubbers for the same actors too.