The film that arguably more than any other put director Alfonso Cuarón and actor Gael García Bernal on the map, Y Tu Mamá También is a smart, funny, extremely erotic tale of two young friends travelling across Mexico in the company of an older, sexually experienced woman. It’s a great film. But this isn’t the DVD you should watch to appreciate it. In this day and age of a veritable deluge of discs boasting unrated versions of their theatrical release, what, pray tell, is the point of an R rated DVD butchering of a unrated theatrical release? Fully six minutes are missing. The 100 that remain are, of course, excellent, but what is here is not the director’s vision. There is terrible irony in box boasting a blurb that exults in how “unafraid of sexuality” the movie is, when the DVD is clearly terrified. As punishment, I’m cutting the film’s star rating in half, not to reflect on Cuarón’s work, but on what has been done to it. The unrated version is out there, released at the same time as this. Track it down instead.
Audio
What? Are you still here? Why are you still reading after the preceding paragraph? Oh well, we might as well pass the time together. The sound (5.1 Spanish) is solid, with crisp, undistorted dialogue and nicely handled music. The surround elements are bit iffier. When they show up, they’re good, but they are also frequently unaccountable absent. As a case in point, check out the early scene at the airport. A beautiful opportunity for immersive crowd effects is passed over, but in the next scene, some nice placement of traffic sounds takes place. Go figure.
Video
The picture comes in both anamorphic 1.85:1 and (cue sarcastic excitement) fullscreen options. The colours are deep and rich while remaining naturalistic. The director’s films always look good, whether we’re talking the despairing greys of Children of Men or the Suspiria-like super-saturation of A Little Princess, and this is no exception, well handled by the transfer.
Special Features
The trailer. Wow.
Closing Thoughts
Nothing new is brought to the table, and much is taken away. A singularly pointless edition.
