Tag: Maribel Verdu

Side by Side: Amores Perros and Y Tu Mama Tambien

“Y Tu Mama Tambien” and “Amores Perros” are both early 2000s Mexican films, but they have more differences than they’d appear on paper.

At the dawn of the 21st Century, two directors emerged out of Mexico City with gruff, intimate films in their native tongue, but each with sprawling stories, symbolism and philosophies.

The first, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, made his debut film “Amores Perros” and has since moved on to Oscar bait with his films “Babel” and “Biutiful.” Critics have noted that his films have gotten grimmer, darker and more depressing as he’s grown as a filmmaker, but his next film, 2014’s “Birdman,” will be an American comedy.

The second, Alfonso Cuaron, had already been established with big budget titles, but returned to Mexico for the frankly sexual “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” a road-trip, coming of age story that could’ve never been made in Hollywood. Cuaron has now entered into the upper crust of blockbuster filmmakers with arguably the best Harry Potter movie “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” “Children of Men” and his upcoming space epic “Gravity.”

On paper, the two films are strikingly similar, a good starting point for Mexican cinema in the 2000s. In fact, both launched the career of actor Gael Garcia Bernal. But which is really the more depressing or the tougher sit? Neither film can be easily classified into the indie, foreign art film genre so easily, and although each is a striking example of how each filmmaker would grow and develop, neither can be so easily pigeonholed as equal entries into their broader, on-paper filmographies.

“Amores Perros” and “Y Tu Mama Tambien” may sound so similar because on a fundamental level, they’re both love stories. In tragic ways, they depict nuance, naiveté, betrayal and heartbreak.

“Y Tu Mama Tambien” especially is anchored on these themes. The first scene is an intensely passionate love scene between Tenoch (Diego Luna) and his girlfriend, in which he stops her and makes her promise she won’t cheat. Cross that with the frankly hilarious sex scene in which Julio (Bernal) and his girlfriend have sex while her parents wait for them to leave just downstairs. In each instance, sex is built on mistrust, a bad omen for any road trip. Continue reading “Side by Side: Amores Perros and Y Tu Mama Tambien”

Blancanieves

The fairy tale “Blancanieves” is a silent film with big emotions and style that resembles the way modern silent films should look.

For anyone who had watched “The Artist,” the feeling that silent films could come back in fashion was little more than wishful thinking. The film was intentionally a pastiche, and it accomplished just that.

But if someone were to update silent movies for the 21st Century, the Spanish silent film “Blancanieves” is a perfect example of what this new genre should resemble. The quivery camera, shortened average shot length, overpowering close-ups, low shots and canted angles mixed with classical and Latin musical intensity is stylish and in your face, but also simple and lively.

Here’s a movie with a simple story and big emotions that might be unbearable if it was told another way. To call it a throwback misses the point. And director and writer Pablo Berger has picked no better place to start this revision than with a simultaneously dark, innocent and whimsical retelling of some of our oldest fairy tale legends. Continue reading “Blancanieves”