This is a review of the movie, “Y tu mama tambien,” (2002). The movie is set in Mexico City portraying the time from 1999 to 2000. The main characters are Tenoch, played by Diego Luna; Julio, played by Gael Garcia Bernal; and Luisa, played by Maribel Verdu. The two boys are teenagers who live an upscale yuppie lifestyle. They are spoiled and involved in sex, drugs and alcohol.

Tenoch and Julio have to attend a wedding where they meet Luisa, who is married to Tenoch’s older cousin. Luisa is from Spain and decides to go on a road trip with the two boys for some fun. She knows she has cancer but has not told anyone yet. That is the main reason for her going out and acting wild, so she can have a little fun at the end of her life and also as revenge to her cheating husband.

Tenoch is an interesting character because he has an indigenous name. Tenoch comes from the word Tenochtitlan, which is the original name for the City of Mexico at

the time of the Aztecs. It means land of the cactus. Tenoch seems to be torn somewhat by his relating to his housekeeper’s family, who he considered like a grandmother; as compared to his upscale lifestyle. His housekeeper is an indigenous woman from a small town that they pass on their road trip. He is afraid to tell the others about his excitement upon passing the spot for fear they will make fun of him. There is a part where he gets a hat belonging to an elderly indigenous man and he accepts it with pride.

Both boys are really into defending their manhood. They end up each having sex with Luisa and also telling each other that they had slept with each other’s girlfriends. This does not go over too well and they end up in physical fights with each other over the information. First they say that it only happened one time and try to make it out like it did not mean much but later when they are drunk they admit there were many times. This is where the phrase “Y tu mama tambien,” comes in. It is a joke that Julio says to mean he had sex with Tenoch’s mother also, but not really.

Luisa meets a woman named Dona Martina who is 98 years old when their car breaks down in the middle of a small town. She finds an alter for people who have passed away with a small teddy bear with her name on it, then tells the elderly woman that her name is also Luisa. The elderly woman tells her that is was put there in the name of her granddaughter who had died crossing the desert to try to come to the United States with her family. She gives the bear to Luisa. Luisa says she does not want to think about death, since she knows she will be dying soon. She later remarks to her husband during a phone call about meeting the elderly woman saying, “Imagine everything that she had lived and everything she has in her memory.” The elderly woman had told her she could remember everything since age five.

At the end of the movie, the two boys, who are then around 18 meet by chance on the street and decide to have coffee. Tenoch tells Julio that Luisa had died of cancer and he is quite surprised. The boys, who are going on to college seemed to have grown up somewhat through their experiences.