Y tu mamá también
d. Alfonso Cuarón, 2001
Alfonso Cuarón's 2001 film Y tu mamá también is a rarity amongst film dealing with teenagers: it's funny, smart, and poignantly sad. Cuarón tells his story with an incredible amount of economy, leading the audience effortlessly through a landscape of difficult subjects while keeping them interested at all times. The beautiful grainy photography is beyong extraodinary, and the way Cuarón chooses to compose his shots reminded me of Antonioni. The script, which Cuarón wrote with his brother, is wonderfully effective and fells infinitely more real than the myriad of American teen comedies released around the same time (most notably the horrendous American Pie). As far as genre conventions go, Y tu mamá también would have to be defined as a road movie, and it works great as one. On one level it's a coming-of-age story of two teenage boys at the hands of an older woman, it's also about the way youth tends to block out the issues of the outside world, and finally it's about dealing and coming to terms with death. Y tu mamá también is a magnificent film indeed.
