2001 road movie
Rating: 17/20
Plot: After their girlfriends travel to Europe, two bored young men convince an older cuckqueen to travel to an imaginary beach with them.
A road movie with a homoerotic subtext? Sounds right up my alley! Actually, that subtext isn't that subtextual. It's right on the surface of this movie, isn't it? The dual protagonists talk about each other's penises, masturbate together on diving boards, and make googly eyes at each other. Tenoch and Julio sure talk a straight talk, including more than a few homophobic slurs, but they've at least got some curiosity and quite possibly have the hots for each other which, of course, makes the ending doubly tragic. This is one of those stories where everything is unspoken is likely more important than anything spoken here.
That's why the omniscient narrator, a bit reminiscent of something like Amelie, is vital. Cute asides aside, the narrator gives us glimpses at these character's secrets, and the more of these little details you have about what's going on in their minds, these sneaky parallels, these half-relevant memories, and these shadows of their futures, the more you fall in love with them.
Alfonso Cuaron likes his water and his beaches, doesn't he? Pools with leaves, pools with jizz, pools without leaves or jizz, waves, an ocean full of fish, showers. Lots and lots of water here. That's not all it has in common with Cuaron's latest feature, Roma. Social and economic class, politics, personal tragedies. There other links, too, and one of these movies is the little brother of the other one.
What a lovely and heartbreaking journey, one that makes you nostalgic for journeys you never took and hopeful that you too can someday take a trip to an imaginary beach with the lovely Maribel Verdu even though you know it's already too late.
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