M IS FOR MEXICO

I loved this film in my teens, in my twenties, and now in my thirties,—for completely different reasons each time, and yet, like water giving in to foam, fully.

It seems simple, it has a provocative title, and a corny storyline: horny teens who want to fuck all the time. There is also an underlying sad story that is revealed in the end. But what lies beneath all of the dramaturgy is the one of the sharpest studies of class, sexuality and humanity that I have encountered in my life. And this is what makes it genius, I think. It worked for me when I was 16 and wanted to see cute boys touch each other. It works for me when I’m 31 and want everything to be intensely political. I wonder how the film will play out when I’ll be 46. Surely there will be some new truth revealed.

I also think that compared to Call Me By Your Name, another plot that is centered around a same-sex affair where one of the participants is more repressed in his refusal to acknowledge his desire than the other, Y Tu Mama Tambien was way more progressive because it did not gloss over uncomfortable truths.

Y Tu Mama Tambien, 2001
Director: Alfonso Cuaron