“Y tu mamà también” (2001)

Y tu mamà también

Grade: A+

Y tu mamà también is about sex, and, naturally, the film shows lots of sex. Graphic sex: quickies, threesomes, jacking off, even cum in a pool. And yet I’d say none of it is gratuitous, and all of it is wholly necessary to the plot and character development. Of course, that helps when the two main characters, inseparable teenage best pals Julio and Tenoch (played by Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, respectively), are horny stoners who want to spend the summer getting laid and getting high. Sex is their language, their lives; and director Alfonso Cuarón wants the viewer to understand that a lot can be learned about the world — and oneself — through sex. But he also wants us to understand that there is so much more to the world than sex, and that is where Y tu mamà también truly becomes a masterpiece.

First thing’s first: this is a very funny movie. The chemistry between Julio and Tenoch is infectious, with much of the slice-of-life storyline feeling like we’re just hanging out with our hilariously juvenile friends. But as the film’s road-trip narrative goes on (Julio and Tenoch manage to convince a sexy older woman named Luisa, played by Maribel Verdú, to vacation with them at a hidden beach), the film becomes more serious and profound. Through Cuarón’s handheld, documentary-style realism, we see the beauty of everyday life in Mexico, its rich history and culture; a Mexico completely free from outside influence. Meanwhile, an omniscient narrator gives matter-of-fact updates on the characters’ pasts, futures and fleeting thoughts, along with seemingly unimportant digressions and observations about random passersby and events. It is here where the film’s worldview expands from the personal to the universal, gaining a deep pathos: life is teeming all around, in every place and everyone, and nothing — even sex — should be taken for granted. All of which makes the final scene/narration so poignant and devastating, fully capturing the fragility of existence, with Frank Zappa’s “Watermelon in Easter Hay” serving as the pitch-perfect end-credit soundtrack. A sublime ending to a truly wonderful, unshakeable film.

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More by Alfonso Cuarón

• Y tu mamà también (2001) A+
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) A

More by Gael García Bernal

• Y tu mamà también (2001) A+
• Coco (2017) B+

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