Y Tu Mama Tambien Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)May 14th, 2002
Y Tu Mama Tambien – Provides Summer Heat
Brazen yet intelligent, "Y Tu Mama Tambien" (translated as 'And Your Mother Too') is a film about sexual discoveries and secrets learned that helps to redefine two teenager's lives. The two are Julio and Tenoch, best friends and privileged boys who have just graduated from high school. It is the pivotal summer that all young people live through when nothing afterwards will ever be the same.
Julio would like to keep his world intact. As the film opens, we see him and his girlfriend locked in the missionary position, grunting and groaning in a semi-graphic interlude that is high on energy but short on duration. They are making love as if it's their last time together. Julio's girlfriend is about to leave for a summer trip. That'll leave him all alone. His hormones are raging and his lusty relationship is the only thing that keeps him grounded. His best friend, Tenoch, is faced with a similar situation. This is a critical moment in time for these two. Their future is uncertain, their manhood needs reinforcement, and their lives need affirmation.
At a summertime party, these two young boys chat it up with a beautiful woman, 10 years their senior. Her name is Luisa. Alluring and composed, she appears to be a fully realized woman. And the two, in their exuberance, offer to take her to a secret beach call Heaven's Mouth. It's just a little lie they conjure up to get her attention.
Luisa's situation, as it turns out, is not unlike that of the boys. Although married, her husband is only around infrequently. So she decides to take them up on their invitation, which leaves the two scrambling to prepare for a trip that never should have happened to a mythical beach that doesn't even really exist.
Off they go. Luisa provides the lightning rod for all of the conversations, mostly regarding sex, as she teases them, questions them, and even flirts with them. And along the way, everyone learns a little bit more about life, love, fidelity, and friendship. The conversations are carnal, punctuated with curse words and lewd explanation of sexual mechanics. Yet, this is a film about breaking free and exploring new worlds. And these three are willing to dive in headfirst.
But this is just the outer layer of this film. Their journey towards sexual liberation serves as a political parable about the struggle for prosperity within the hinterlands of Mexico. Where the sexual angle is blunt, this political facet is more poetic. During the long drive to the beach that may or may not exist, the soundtrack silences periodically as a narrator speaks about fatalistic events that have occurred. They all involve the poorer people who are struggling to taste the prosperity that has only appeared in pockets of this still-emerging country. There are the random drug checkpoints along the highway to curtail a growing but illicit industry. There is the pedestrian who was struck and killed while trying to cross a busy highway in order to get to his place of work. There is the boat guide who loses his livelihood once a modern hotel builds on the land that he services. And, of course in the hearts of Julio, Tenoch, and Luisa, they are feeling a sense of entrapment that prevents them from really tasting what life is all about. Sexual liberation is just one of the keys that may unlock their souls. But, in Mexico where the conditions are less than ideal, the destination may be unreachable.
Grade: B
S: 4 out of 3
L: 3 out of 3
V: 0 out of 3
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