Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN (Alfonso Cuaron, 2002)

Reviewed: April 7th, 2002

Sad, funny, vibrant, honest, beautifully shot, extraordinary performances (you immediately know you're in good hands when Harold and Maude and the great 1980s American cartoon Thundercats are alluded to in a foreign film) but flawed and certainly not as great as the hype would have you believe. Doesn't hold a candle to last year's wonderful Amores Perros (another recent film of Mexican descent), for instance. Towards the close of Y tu mamá también a character directly speaks to another about the vitality of life in their land. It's an error indicative of the film as a whole: laziness. Occasionally Tambien takes the easy way out, hits the nail too directly on the head. In this example, to compensate for the fact we haven't seen how vital Mexico is, the characters say it. Where Amores Perros shows, Y tu mamá también tells.

No place is this more apparent than in the film's frequent voiceover from an omniscient narrator (think Truffaut or more recently, Amelie). Sometimes this device works (such as when it's used to quickly say the future of a character when the film obviously doesn't have the timeframe to be able to show it), and the way the sound cuts out just before each voiceover begins is nicely striking, but more often the words fall flat, sounding forced, unnecessary and overly expository. This is particularly true when the narrator describes how characters feel. Picture this: You're at the keyboard, mid writing a script. You've just written a big scene. Very important, powerful, hugely revelatory, etc. Cut to the next scene. Which is easier to write: (A) "NARRATOR (Voiceover) John felt sad, like there was only darkness all around him," or (B) "John walks to the pool alone, sits down, puts his feet in the water and stares off a bit." Tambien fails to understand that (B) is obviously the courageous, more potent choice, placing your full trust in the actors.

Another omniscient narrator problem: the film sometimes strays off course in the interest of making larger, muddled statements about Mexico. Y tu mamá también excels in how it deals with its three characters, the reality of their actions, the rhythms of their journey, the complexity to their relationships. But what do any of these characters have to do with the politics of Mexico City? Do we give two shits who won the new election at the end of the film? Absolutely not; in fact, I'm willing to bet most everyone has forgotten that story strand even existed by the time the ending rolls around. Nonetheless, we're given the answer in a final, awkward VO. Plus we're often given odd, out of place VO statements about peripheral characters and events and environmental issues that seem to be nothing more than an attempt to make the viewer appreciate the diversity or problems or history of Mexico. Yes, the three protagonists are from Mexico so it obviously shaped who they are in many ways, but Mexico itself should just be used for background texture, the images should speak for the themselves. Y tu mamá también is not about Mexico, despite what the filmmakers might think. It's about two young friends, an older woman and the power of life.

Looking back over this piece I note with a sigh I only spent one or two sentences singing the praises of this well above average film and three paragraphs picking at admittedly small problems (though I also have a bigger beef with the ending I'll leave unmentioned at the risk of spoilers). My words are mainly a response to the massive hosannas critics have been heaping on Y tu mamá también; I felt like I had to compensate. Please think of this as nothing more than a caution to keep the hype in check.

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