Y tu mamá también

Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico / USA, 2001, 105 minutes

Y tu mamá también is a Mexican road movie that follows two best friends Julio (Gael García Bernal, from the Oscar nominated Amores Perros) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) as they drive in search of the amazing beach called 'Heaven´s Mouth', accompanied by Luisa (Maribel Verdú), the wife of Tenoch's cousin. Their journey is complicated by Heaven´s Mouth not actually exiting -- Julio & Tenoch invented it to try and entice Luisa to go on a trip with them, and they're quite surprised when she agrees. She goes impulsively, to leave her unfaithful husband.

Julio and Tenoch's girlfriends have left for a summer holiday in Europe, and while the boys are convinced that their girlfriends will be faithful, they are looking at a summer where they plan to get high at least once a day, masturbate a lot, and try to get off with everything female.

The story focuses on the dynamic between the three leads, all of whom are excellent. Tenoch is from a wealthy (political) family, whereas Julio is from a lower-middle class family, and lives is a cramped apartment with his family. There always a slight tension in their relationship, neither entirely confortable in the world of the other. With the addition of Luisa, there's a new element of competition.

There's a strong fascinatino with death running as an undercurrent to the film, the camera lingering on a crashed car at the side of the road, a voice over explaining about a pedestrian killed by a car on the way to work. This isn't to suggest that the film is overly dark -- there is a lot of humour drawn from the teenagers-behaving-badly elements of the film.

Director Alfonso Cuarón has since become the unlikely choice to direct the third installment of the Harry Potter movies, and it will be interesting to see how that turns out!

Review by Jonathan Caryl
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2003