As I’ve established, Y tu mamá también isn’t actually the first film I ever saw Diego Luna in—I’m pretty sure that was actually Before Night Falls. But it’s the first where I took note of him, the one that made me go, “It’s that guy from Y tu mamá también!” when I saw him pop up in other things. I saw it during college, over fifteen years ago now, and I really enjoyed revisiting it for Y tu Luna también.
Tenoch and Julio are heading into their first summer vacation after high school. They’re best friends and self-proclaimed charolastras, guys forever on the lookout for a good time. When they meet Luisa, the wife of Tenoch’s cousin, at a wedding, both boys are instantly taken with the beautiful Spaniard and try to convince her to join them on a getaway to a beach that they just made up to impress her. But when Luisa is faced with some major personal issues of her own, she surprises them by actually wanting to go. The three set off on a road trip to find a beach that doesn’t really exist.
After I first saw Y tu mamá también, my brain filed it away as “that road trip movie with two horny teenage boys and That Scene at the end.” I thought it was well-made and the acting was good, and it helped me dovetail from an actor deep dive (Gael García Bernal) to a director deep dive (Alfonso Cuarón—imagine my surprise when I discovered that he’s the guy who directed A Little Princess!) But while I acknowledged that it was a classic, it would’ve have been my pick for one of the top projects of any of the people involved.
Seeing it again now makes me realize how much subtlety I missed the first time around. What’s really neat about this film is how it plays with the foreground and the background of the scene. Up front, what’s happening is definitely a road trip between two horny 18-year-olds and an older woman who’s not in a great place, but all the jokes and sex scenes and coming-of-age stuff are set against a backdrop of Mexican politics. Tenoch’s father is a sub-secretary of state, and at the wedding where they meet Luisa, the president is also a guest—that scene starts with the boys counting bodyguards. For their road trip, they stop by a demonstration where Julio’s sister is marching, wanting to borrow the car, and on their drive, they pass people who’ve been stopped by the military or the police. In between detailing the inner lives of the boys and Luisa, the film’s narrator takes time to allude to just what Tenoch’s dad does for the government and fill us in on the fate of a fishing family whose way of life is about to be threatened by corporate interests.
This foreground/background dynamic applies in various ways to the main characters too. Tenoch and Julio are very loud and in your face: roughhousing and joking, constantly preoccupied with sex. They prank each other by farting in the car, and they recite their “manifesto” of the charolastra lifestyle in unison to Luisa. And while she comes into the road trip as the sexy older woman they’re both dying to impress, Luisa leaves basically no conversation topic out of bounds. She’s not making the most levelheaded decisions right now, and she feeds into the boys’ crushes on her. All that is happening up front, but in the background, we see softer notes about the things that these incredibly forthright characters don’t share with each other, their secret troubles and private insecurities. Through a combination of the naturalistic acting, the savvy script, and the skillful camera work (shoutout to Emmanuel Lubezki!), we’re gradually shown a fuller, more complex picture of who they all are.
Maribel Verdú, who plays Luisa, later went on to appear in Pan’s Labyrinth, which is cool. Her character can be a frustrating one—as the one full adult in the group, you might wonder what she sees in these two little shits—but her story becomes more interesting as more context is mapped onto it. And as I said, the reason Y tu mamá también came on my radar way back when is because I was in the middle of a Gael García Bernal thing. As Julio, he plays effortlessly off of Luna’s Tenoch. He and Luna have both said that their real-life friendship had a big hand in shaping their performances here, and it shows. They feel every inch like a genuine pair of rowdy, sex-obsessed 18-year-old boys, to the point where they can be obnoxious to watch at times. But that’s what makes it all the more compelling to watch the subtler story take shape beneath the surface.
Like García Bernal, Luna is just painfully realistic as Tenoch. A rich kid with an important father, Tenoch rejects his family’s respectable image in favor of partying, getting high, and jerking off. He has little impulse control, he loves to diss Julio, and he’s really selfish. In the opening scene of the film, he’s urging his girlfriend to promise she won’t cheat on him when she goes to Europe for the summer, likewise promising his own fidelity. But almost the second she’s gone, he makes plans to get laid at a party, and he makes his interest in Luisa clear from minute one. Likewise, he expects a certain loyalty from Julio that he doesn’t really uphold himself.
Luna plays the loud, obnoxious scenes to a tee, whether Tenoch is telling Julio how ugly his dick is or swearing to Luisa that he does “the whole Karma Sutra” with his girlfriend. But he’s really effective in the more serious scenes as well, which is what makes the whole thing work—he shows you the humanity of this posturing, self-serving guy. For all of his bragging about sex, I like seeing Tenoch’s nervousness and hesitation when he seems to suddenly be on the verge of getting everything he wants. And there’s a great confrontation scene where it’s clear that Tenoch is trying to lead with anger, but these little moments keep creeping into the scene, showing that he's just barely holding back tears. Really nicely done.
Recommend?
In General – I would, as long as you don’t mind all the sexual content. But know that this is a film that rewards your attention, and you’ll have a richer experience if you really engage with it.
Diego Luna – Yes. He can go big, he can go subtle, and his dynamic with both García Bernal and Verdú is wonderful. Tenoch can really get on my nerves at times, but that’s because Luna brings him to life so well.
Warnings
Lots of sexual content, drinking/smoking/drug use, language (including sexist and homophobic slurs,) allusions to violence, and strong thematic elements.
No comments:
Post a Comment