We've decided to extend our 'kissing' appreciation series past Valentine's. Not that you were asking but we're having fun and it's a sexy break inbetween Oscar madness. Here's Eric Blume...
In director Alfonso Cuarón's 2001 mini-masterpiece Y Tu Mama Tambien, lifelong friends Julio (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) spend much of the movie talking about girls and sex. And when they begin a road trip with older, sexy Luisa (Maribel Verdu), most of their focus is on her, her body, and the idea of getting her into bed. Which makes the climax (yep, I said it) of the film so incredibly surprising: at the end of their journey, they finally consummate their adventure in one of the cinema's best threesomes...
When it finally happens, we see Luisa go below frame to unfasten both boys' belts. We see the moment of rapture on each of their faces: this is really happening! And as they look each other in the eyes, they both lean towards each other in a tender, passionate kiss.
The first time you see Y Tu Mama Tambien, this is the last thing you think is going to happen. But when it does, it makes complete sense, not only in terms of the psychologies of the characters, but because Cuarón has been showing you surprising dimensions of the characters throughout the entire film.
The kiss that Bernal and Luna share is both sweet and hot, and it comes from some place unstoppable within them. That the two actors share such a close friendship offscreen lends the moment further complexity. Their kiss shows the fluidity of sexuality, but at the same time transcends sexuality: the increasing closeness they've shared throughout the movie has naturally culminated in this moment. When we find out in the narration afterwards that the boys drifted apart, it isn't homophobic. We intuitively understand that the level of intimacy they reached was too complicated and intense for them to process. We understand that we saw them at the most free, most passionate, and most thrilling window of their lives.
