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Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too) - Unrated Edition

Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too) - Unrated Edition

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It has its moments
Review: This affectionate coming-of-age film/road movie was simply, in my opinion, not as great as I was expecting it to be, judging from its various awards and nominations. That is not to say it is not without a certain distinctive charm and several affecting moments.

The plot concerns two young friends who set out to find a fabled beach with a woman who is much older and married to a relative of one of the boys. Along the way secrets are shared and by the end of the trip sexual contact has occurred in every possible combination among the three road-trippers. Yes, I know it sounds like a lot of other films you've seen, but in some ways it really stands out.

The actors in this film do an amazing job. Most of the characters start out as cliches, moving the story along with stereotypical actions. But such one-dimensional characters are really brought to life by this great cast. The boys are perfectly cast and eerily able to make us believe they have known each other all their lives. Maribel Verdu brings a tenderness to her character that is necessary to make us believe that this little group actually sticks together through the whole film. What really stood out the most to me were the sex scenes. No, not just because they were explicit. If I want explicit I can go to a porn store. But the sex scenes in this film bring you closer to the characters as well as bringing characters close to each other. Whereas sex in most American films seems to be airbrushed and sterile and just advance the plot, "Y Tu Mama Tambien" presents scenes of incredible sensuality and intimacy despite their locations in cheap Mexican hotels or cars alongside a road. Another pleasing aspect of this film is its cinematography. The natural look of the film onscreen perfectly matches the boys' raw language and the willingness of the camera to follow characters into bedrooms, bathrooms, or behind closed shutters. There are also no tight closeups in this film, leaving the acting to create the intimay between character and audience rather than filling a screen with an actor's face and expecting that to create sympathy for the character.

The only downside I saw to this film was its script. Yes, I know these are adolescent boys, but certainly we don't have to have a juvenile sex joke in EVERY SCENE? The poolside scene was totally unnecessary, I thought; character development came through the more slow, intimate portions of the film and sequences like the pool scene just made me say, "Huh? What is that doing here?". Also, there seems to be a political undertone that is never adequately addressed. While traveling through Mexico the group sees evidence of many social classes and lifestyles. There is an allusion made by the god-like narrator to the change in the ruling party in Mexico, and there is a brief digression about the future of the man who guides the group to the mythical beach. But none of this is really tied together and it winds up looking misplaced.

Overall this is a film worth seeing for its superb acting alone, as long as you are not easily offended. I hope to see all of these actors in future projects where perhaps a better script will allow their talents to really show.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nadie es profeta en su tierra (Nobody is prophet in his land
Review: I'm from Mexico, when i go to the theatre to look this movie, i was shocked about the explicit sexual images (it's not weird that it goes "UNRATED" in US); some months before its debut, Alfonso & Carlos Cuaron (directors) made a big controversy about the rating of this movie... here in mexico, this movie received a "C" rating (something like a R rating in the US) and he wanted a "B" rating (something like the PG rating in the US).

Here in mexico, a lot of people considered this movie very, very bad. When this movie arrived to US and other coutries, it was a big success (why? i really don't know, don't ask me!); perhaps was its story?, the "wonderful" acting of Diego Luna and Gael Garcia? or the "great" sound mix?, nah!, maybe was its explicit sex on screen and the kiss between Dielo Luna and Gael Garcia in one scene...avoid this movie (that are closer to a NC-17 or XXX movie than a R rated movie) disguised as a "maesterpiece" nominated for "Best original script" in the academy awards, (but affortunatelly it didn't win); if you want better mexican movies, search for "Amores Perros", "La ley de herodes", "El callejon de los milagros", or any from the 40's and 50's era.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: fajitas, country style
Review: if you like the dusty back roads, crumbling adobe walls, peeling turquoise paint and rusty pickup truck aspect of mexico, then this film is like coming home. the sex scenes are tender in their clumsy way -- i'm glad that i never had sex this bad, no matter how drunk i was. the actors are perfect in their roles, although the woman is pretty hapahzard about her seductions. the boy on boy action at the end is, well, as dusty, crumbly, peeling and rusty as everything else.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Dares to tell the truth about sex and sexuality...
Review: AND YOUR MOTHER TOO (Y Tu Mamá También, 2001): Two inseparable friends (real-life best friends Gael García Bernal [AMORES PERROS] and Diego Luna [VAMPIRES: LOS MUERTOS]) fall hopelessly in lust with Luna's sister-in-law (Maribel Verdú, AMANTES), a beautiful young newlywed who's just discovered that her no-good husband is sleeping around. Hoping to escape her troubles, she agrees to accompany García Bernal and Luna on an extended road trip to a fabled - and perhaps non-existent - beach where the two guys hope to indulge their mutual passion for Verdù. But their journey becomes fraught with tension (sexual and otherwise) as various secrets come tumbling out of the closet, driving an emotional wedge between the two friends and their heartbroken passenger.

Opening with two simulated (but incredibly realistic) sex scenes, Alfonso Cuarón's ambitious Mexican road movie establishes itself as a force to be reckoned with from the outset. Though hugely popular on its home turf, particularly amongst hormonally-challenged younger viewers, Cuarón's script has more on its mind than mere titillation. AMERICAN PIE this ain't! Set during a time of social upheaval (the decline of the much-hated Institutional Revolutionary Party which governed the country until July 2000), the three principal characters travel through a Mexican landscape scarred by a corrupt political system which has divided the country as never before, generating unlimited wealth in the major cities and devastating poverty throughout rural communities still rooted in ancient traditions. Verdú offers her sexual favors freely to the boys (for reasons which only become clear at the end of the film), but despite their bravado and passion, the two friends are sexually immature and therefore unable to deal with the emotional consequences of their actions. When confronted with the evidence of various infidelities, their anger - sparked by jealousy - hints at a twist in the tale which cuts right to the heart of the narrative and confronts its audience with the most jaw-dropping revelation this side of THE CRYING GAME. This is a movie which dares to tell the truth about sex and sexuality, not merely to provoke the audience (though the nudity is both generous and cheerful, and the beautiful García Bernal has since become something of a poster boy) but also to illuminate the three central characters and the motivations which underpin their relationship. Quite an achievement.

This review is derived from the Canadian DVD version, running 105m 9s, and is letterboxed at 1.85:1 (anamorphically enhanced). The unrated US version - a region 1 disc released by MGM - features the same transfer and a range of extras, including a 'Making of' featurette, director's commentary and trailers. English subtitles and captions are included. A censored R-rated version is also available, but viewers are advised to see this one full-strength or not at all.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Unexpected HEAT!
Review: As much as I enjoyed this film, I was taken by surprise by the fact that it's not much short of porn! So get it, enjoy it, but be ready for what you're in for!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: overated, sexually audacious film
Review: This film has been widely considered a very good film, among critics and I can understand that because there hasn't been an honest representation of sex in film and the sex in this film is authentic(probably!). The problem is that this film isn't really about anything, sure it has ideas about what it could be about, but these things aren't formed, or realized. After reading a professional review of this movie, it sounded like a mature and deep film, which it's not. It gave the impression that this was a layered film and that the layers gave the film a deeper resonance, it doesn't. ...I thought that I was in for film about discovery and what I discovered was a film that was predictable and had no heart, ...I didn' grow to learn about, or like these characters and film felt arbitrary in places. Specifically, everytime a voice-over came on it was intrusion into the reality of the film. Something loud might be happening and then it goes to dead silence and I was left feeling 'Why did the director ruin possible momentum by including this perfunctory exposition.' ... If you have to see it because you have see what everyone is talking about, OK. But, it's definitely not as emotionally resonant as the director's previous English Language effort "Great Expectations" at least that disappoint me the way this did and form characters within a story I care about.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Silly Mexican soft porn
Review: After reading a few reviews, I went off to see Y Tu Mama Tambien with high expectations. What a let-down! The film delivered very little save the dying sexual desires of a Spanish woman with cancer accompanied by two brain-dead Mexican boys bent on attempting to become over-sexed any way they can. Great movie if you enjoy degenerate Mexican soft porn.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Had to own it
Review: This is a great movie, highly recommended, i saw it in the local indie cinema and couldn't wait for it to come out.

Its a really engaging story.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Magical Mystery Tour
Review: A magical mystery tour of adolescence by way of Mexico, this beautifully evocative road movie never hits a wrong note. What begins as a naturalistic portrait of two teenage boys widens its scope as their journey progresses, taking in Mexico's troubled political past and present, class resentment, and all manner of sexual behavior, until climaxing on a note of near-metaphysical grace.

The slow accumulation of detail, from both the riveting cast and the gorgeous landscape, along with a visceral sense of real life rare in movies, give Y Tu Mama Tambien a curious cumulative power. One moment it's simply a moderately entertaining road film with an immoderate amount of onscreen sex...minutes later its raising the hairs on the back of your neck as only uncanny art can.

In the end the film is as sad and beautiful as the vanishing landscape it portrays. Not to be missed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The End of Innocence
Review: Often described as one part buddy-film, one part road-film, and one part coming-of-age film, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN offers the story of two teenage wannabe studs who coax a slightly older and somewhat more sophistocated woman into a road trip to the beach--never dreaming that the woman might have a personal agenda of her own. The premise is hardly an original one, but in the hands of director Alfonso Cuarón and a truly remarkable cast the result is absolutely astonishing.

As a number of people have pointed out, Tenoch (Diego Luna) and Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) are not entirely likeable characters: they are thoughtless, self-indulgent, crass, and rarely think above their belts or beyond the next joint. But their encounter with Ana (Ana López Mercado) will shake them out of their adolescent-inspired sense of superiority in more ways than one: as their friendly rivalry for Ana's favors escalates into open jealousy, their revelations demonstrate that they are no less hypocritical than the pompous and corrupt adult society against which they so pointedly rebel.

The film is unexpectedly satirical, neatly adopting a "boys will be boys" smile and then quietly but sharply undercutting it by transient images of poverty, decay, and death that the trio encounter as they move out of their rather sheltered existences in Mexico City and travel the backroads to the sea--images that the boys ignore with a youthful zeal but which foreshadow and then underscore the series of punches the film delivers at its conclusion. The cast is impressive, with Luna and Bernal the very image of thoughtless, vulgar youth, while Mercado is remarkable as Ana, a woman in her late twenties who seems to be fleeing from a faithless husband and seeking revenge in casual sex but who secretly has a still more weighty motive behind her actions.

The film has a great deal of nudity and sexual activity; there is also considerable drug use and profanity. A great deal has been made of that, and particularly of the intense kiss between Luna and Bernal--but ulitmately Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN is less about sex, drugs, and youthful excess than it is about responsibility in relationships and how failure to keep trust can have devastating consequences in platonic, romantic, and sexual relationships. The DVD package is quite nice, with several interesting bonuses, and although the subtitles are in white they are easy to read. Overall, an impressive film--but one perhaps best viewed by middle-agers with some perspective than by the youth it satirizes. Recommended.


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