We’ve got the whole range going here again. First, we’d like to get credit for watching a critically acclaimed foreign film Y tu mamá también (2001). This was directed by Alfonso Cuarón, whose next film would be Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), the third movie in the Harry Potter series. I see absolutely no relationship between these movies whatsoever, for the record. Anyway, Y tu mamá también is a very good film that shows a remarkable and varied perspective on Mexico that is certainly outside of the experience of most Americans. The central narrative, two teenage boys who think of almost nothing besides sex go on a short road trip with an older (relatively), married, Spanish woman to a secret beach. I’m not ever convinced that it is a transformative event for the boys, but it can be quite moving for the audience. That aside, I’m not recommending it to my mother—I mean that both literally and figuratively. It is full of profanity, sex (and this is not American movie sex), and some drugs sprinkled in. Now if you can take all that (and I confess that I almost didn’t make it past the first ½ hour) then it is very rewarding. We both thought it was exceptionally good, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. In Spanish with subtitles—I haven’t decided if that gives the profanity greater or lesser impact…
Next, Flashdance (1983). A pretty bad movie all around. But as part of my quest to see what later movies have been alluding to (The Full Monty, Shrek 2), I thought I’d better see it. It’s a ridiculous movie with almost no plot and even less character, but such an interesting time capsule of the early 80s. Wasn’t it a huge hit? Oh yeah—that’s probably because Jennifer Beals is a total babe. But what was she, like twelve years old?
And last but not least, we have watched our next installment of the Zorro movies: Zorro, the Gay Blade (1981) with George Hamilton. It is completely ludicrous and great fun. It was even funnier having just recently seen what it was spoofing (seeing the original is often an essential step in enjoying the spoof), the 1975 Zorro movie with Alain Delon.
More Zorro movies are on the horizon. We are ready.
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