Reel Critic -- Mary A. Castillo

“Y Tu Mama Tambien” is the kind of movie you don’t want to see with

your mama.

Starting from the first scene, the audience is treated to the explicit

sexual encounters of Tanoch and Julio. Now on-screensex doesn’t make me

squirm uncomfortably -- unless I’m sitting next to my mom.

However, director Alfonso Cuaron uses these scenes to reveal the

insecurities and inadequacies that Tanoch and Julio try to hide behind a

veil of snideness, alcohol and drugs. And that is what makes “Y Tu Mama

Tambien” a fascinating and challenging film.

Julio and Tanoch are buddies who come from vastly different worlds.

Julio’s single mother works in a factory. Tanoch’s father is an

Institutional Revolutionary Party official and his mother a devotee of

spirituality.

They envision a summer of sex, drugs and parties after their

girlfriends leave for Europe. However, boredom sets in until they attend

Tanoch’s cousin’s wedding, where they lay the moves on Luisa, the

beautiful Spanish wife of a weak-willed mama’s boy named Jano. They tell

her about a beach that only they know about, called Boca de Cielo

(Heaven’s Mouth). Upon receiving the results of a medical test and Jano’s

confession of adultery, Luisa agrees to go with the boys to see this

coastal (not to mention fictional) gem. Even though they made up this

fictional beach, neither Tanoch nor Julio are about to turn down a road

trip with a beautiful older woman. After conning Julio’s politically

active sister into letting them take the car, they hit the road.

As they travel from Mexico City to the coast, the three characters are

so caught up in their own world that they’re blind to the daily tragedies

of the poor. “Y Tu Mama Tambien” bravely shows us not only the ugliness

of the characters, but also the ugliness of Mexico. Through silently

eloquent images, we feel the hopelessness of burnt-out cinder buildings

and the vulnerability of the poor.

As a whole, the movie doesn’t bring anything revolutionary to the

road-trip genre. In the end, neither Julio nor Tanoch are awakened to

social injustice. Maribel Verdu as Luisa is the soul of the story. She is

their conscience -- the one who strips away their adolescent bravado and

the one who ultimately shows them that their friendship is based on false

self-imagery.

“Y Tu Mama Tambien” has not been rated but does contain explicit

sexual encounters.

* MARY A. CASTILLO, 28, is a Costa Mesa resident.