Short Review: Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron, 2001)

The sexy Y Tu Mama Tambien, which translates to "And Your Mother Too", is a 2001 Mexican drama/comedy directed by the great Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Children of Men). He co-wrote the original screenplay, which gathered a nomination at the 2011 Academy Awards, with his brother Carlos. The film stars Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores Perros) and Diego Luna (Before Night Falls) as two teenage boys who take a coming-of-age road trip with an adventurous older woman, played by Maribel Verdu (Pan's Labyrinth).

Y Tu Mama Tambien focuses on two boys who have just graduated from high school, and are at the cusp of adulthood and a life of personal responsibility. We are first introduced to best friends Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) as they are engaged in sex with their girlfriends one last time before the girls leave on a trip to Italy. Having just started their summer holidays, they quickly find themselves bored without their girlfriends around.

At a wedding they meet Luisa (Maribel Verdu), the attractive Spanish wife of Tenoch's cousin, Jano. Trying to impress her, they discuss taking a trip to a fictional secluded beach called 'Heaven's Mouth', which they invite her to. That night Luisa receives a call from her out-of-town husband, who tearfully confesses to a number of infidelities. She calls the boys and asks to accompany them on their proposed road trip. Trying to make sense of their wayward directions, they travel through poorer rural regions of Mexico, passing the time by discussing their various sexual experiences, and landing themselves in several awkward and embarrassing situations.

Poll: What Is Your Favourite Redford/Newman Film?

While The Sting is a supremely entertaining film, and feature excellent performances from both men, I can't go past their hilarious partnership in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. What is your favourite film collaboration between Robert Redford and Paul Newman? 

As Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

OR

Henry Gondoff and Johnny Hooker in The Sting?

MIFF Update

So, it turns out, I will be seeing some films at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) after all. My friend and I made a rash decision last night to book flights to Melbourne and tickets to:

Friday 5th August - Melancholia and Tiny Furniture

Saturday 6th August - Drive and 'Closing Night Party'

Sunday 7th August - Another Earth 

It would be great to catch up with some fellow Melbourne film bloggers/critics/enthusiasts, so let me know if you're going to be attending these screenings. 

Schedule for 2011 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) Available Online

The 2011 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) lineup has been announced and can be now found online. It runs between July 21 and August 7. Unfortunately I live in Sydney and can't really afford to make the trip to Melbourne for the period, but there certainly are some exceptional films playing this year.

MIFF is headlined by anticipated films such as: 13 Assasssins, Another Earth, Armadillo, Attenberg, Beginners, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Drive (closing night), Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, The Fairy (opening night), The Forgiveness of Blood, The Future, The Guard, Le Havre, Jane Eyre, The Kid With A Bike, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Nowegian Wood, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Polisse, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Project Nim, Senna, A Separation, Submarine, Super, Tabloid, Take Shelter, Terri, This is England '86, Tiny Furniture, Tomboy, Toomelah, Troll Hunter, The Turin Horse, Tyrannosaur and Win Win. Many of these are continuing their stint at the Australian festival circuit having also screened at the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) last month.

Also playing at MIFF this year are The Big Sleep, The King of Comedy, La Dolce Vita and The Third Man. The entire lineup can be found listed A-Z by film (here) or you can check out the daily schedule (here).

Best Male/Female Performances of 2011

With the exception of Shannon, Gleeson, Pitt, Hawkes, Olsen and Chastain, I doubt that many of these performances will feature amongst the Oscar considerations for next year. Nevertheless, here are some of the top performances from the year so far: 

Honourable mentions: Paul Giamatti and Amy Ryan (Win Win), Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life) and Steve Coogan (The Trip)

Male (Lead and Supporting)

Brad Pitt - The Tree of Life

Michael Shannon - Take Shelter

John Hawkes - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Michael Fassbender - X-Men: First Class

Brendan Gleeson - The Guard

Peyman Moaadi - A Separation

Female (Lead and Supporting)

Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene

Jessica Chastain - Take Shelter

Mia Wasikowska - Jane Eyre

Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids

Elle Fanning - Super 8

Leila Hatami - A Separation

What are the best performances you have seen so far this year? 

'Network' and Great Ensemble Casts

Having watched Sidney Lumet's Network last night it got me thinking about great ensemble casts. In Network Peter Finch, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Ned Beatty, Robert Duvall and Beatrice Straight all give fantastic performances. While, I wasn't blown away by the film, I was still impressed by the cast. A Separation is another recent example of a fine cast at work. But what makes a great 'ensemble' cast? Is it weaving a host of supporting characters together, played competently by a recognised cast (Robert Altman comes to mind), or having a smaller number of central characters, each exceptionally played by the actors? In addition to Network and A Separation here are a few other great ensembles that spring to mind. I no doubt have forgotten a heap, so let me know in the comments any others that you want to recognise:

Quentin Tarantino usually attracts a brilliant ensemble - Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Inglourious Basterds

The Coen Brothers too - Miller's Crossing, Fargo and No Country for Old Men

Hard to leave out Boogie Nights and Magnolia from Paul Thomas Anderson

The Royal Tenenbaums 

12 Angry Men

The Usual Suspects

Glengarry Glen Ross

The Departed

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Heat

Platoon

The Godfather

Saving Private Ryan

The Social Network

Classic Throwback: Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955)

Before Michael Powell's Peeping Tom and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (both 1960) came the 1955 masterpiece of thrills and suspense, Les Diaboliques, from acclaimed French director Henri-Georges Clouzot. It is based on the novel, She Who Was No More by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac and is said to have inspired Psycho after Cluzot snatched the rights to the screenplay from Hitchcock himself. It is the story of two women, the fragile wife and the strong-willed mistress of a tyrannical headmaster of a boy's boarding school, who devise a daring revenge plot on the physically and emotionally abusive man.

It is a film, in the tradition of Hitchcock, that builds it suspense quite slowly. It opens in the second-rate boarding school, and we witness several sequences which reveals the menacing and sadistic behaviour of the school's principal Michel Delassalle (Paul Meurisse) towards his frail wife, the school's owner, Christine (Vera Clouzot). Delassalle also flaunts his relationship with Nicole Horner (Simon Signoret), another teacher at the school. Though they could be divided by antagonism and jealousy, the women are presented as being quite close, primarily based on their mutual hatred for the man. Unable to take the abuse any longer, Nicole conspires to kill Michel, and the initially reluctant Christina agrees to assist her.

Releases 07/07

This is shaping up to be a quiet week, following the release of Transformers: DOTM and The Tree of Life last week, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 next week. The only scheduled releases are Nannerl, La Soeur De Mozart (Mozart's Sister) and Precious Life.


Nannerl, Mozart's Sister - A speculative account of Maria Anna "Nannerl" Mozart (Marie Feret), five years older than Wolfgang (David Moreau) and a musical prodigy in her own right. Originally the featured performer, she was given way to Wolfgang as the main attraction, as their strict but loving father Leopold (Marc Barbe) tours his talented offspring in front of the royal courts of pre-French revolution Europe. Approaching marriageable age and now forbidden to play the violin or compose, Nannerl chafes at the limitations imposed on her gender but a friendship with the son and daughter of Louis XV offers an alternative.

Precious Life - At once a plea to end human suffering and a ray of hope for Israeli-Palestinian harmony, journalist Shlomi Eldar's documentary Precious Life chronicles the plight of Mohammed Abu Mustafa, a four year old Palestinian boy born without an immune system, who will die in an Israeli hospital if he doesn't obtain a bone marrow transplant within a brief period of time. Not only does Mohammed succeed at getting the treatment he needs, his case manages to pull Israeli and Palestinian doctors together, who make a concerted, joint effort to save the child's life, putting aside racial and religious differences in the process.

Weekly Recommendation: Ahh, good luck finding these films playing anywhere. I suggest you save your pennies this week, or check out Tree of Life if you haven't already.