Road To Perdition (Mendes 2002)

Film Reviews | Regular Feature what begins as a rather monotonous summer. Enter Luisa, who dispels the monotony. At a boring family wedding—stuffy enough to count with the presence of the president of Mexico—Julio and Tenoch meet Luisa, a sexy, voluptuous, twenty seven year old Spaniard who is married to one ofTenoch's cousins. Driven by her beauty, the young seducers corner Luisa and to impress her, make up a fantastic future road trip to a beach called "Boca del Cielo"(literally, heaven's mouth) to which she is invited. Although Luisa does not initially accept, further developments in the plot make the adolescents fantasy come true. A few days later the three characters are, unbeknownst to Luisa, on a road to nowhere. What follows is the staging of a coming-of-age road trip that explores the joy of living for the moment while examining how all of our actions past and present are linked together by their effect on ourselves and on others. Stylistically, the movie is heavily influenced by French New Wave. The most obvious element borrowed from this genre is the use of a third person omniscient narrator. Several times during the film the sound is muted and the narrator intercedes. His narration serves to inform us of past and present events that tend to influence how we feel towards the action we have seen without making us prejudicial towards anyone in the film. Through this device we learn about what the characters don't share with each other as well as information pertinent to the action we are allowed to see. The narration in the film also provides us with anecdotal information about the world and people that surround the adolescents. The narrative implicitly goes from a personal realm into a political one. The omniscient voice through its private and social commentary, along with some of the sights and encounters the characters have on their way to "Boca de Cielo" realistically paints both the hardships and beauty that life in Mexico has to offer. Thematically,Alfonso Cuarón seems interested inreminding us in the film that in life things are not always what they appear to be. What we see is extremely important and influential, but only if it is filtered through what we learn, through the information we find out about the characters. The unexpected occurs several times during this film and yet the fiction that Cuarón has created is realistic enough for these surprises to work, without shocking us. Philosophically, what truly makes this movie what it is, is that all of its elements come together to shed light on how we interactboth with ourselves and with others during life's (difficult) moments. The right of passage that the adolescents are experiencing as well as Luisa's choice to abandon her relationship to Tenoch's cousin and discover her own "Boca del Cielo" may serve as examples for our search through life for what we may desire and the consequences of trying to reach those goals throughout our life time. What sets this movie apart is that you can soul search and still be aroused during most of the film. The use of sexuality in this film is exemplary, as sex in this movie is realistic and erotic at the same time. It is both explicit and clumsy. It is quite comical and thoroughly touching. Sexuality as a theme is portrayed in many shades, but not a single one is idealized. In Y tu mamá también sexuality and life are naturally inseparable. Interestingly enough sex has its consequences because it is interaction with other human beings, but morality (or its lack) does not play a role whatsoever, and it is not missed. Finally, to speak seriously about this film is to understand its message, but not to have learned our lesson. What is truly admirable about the characters is their ability to break away from life and abandon the roles it has designated for them. What I most enjoyed about Luisa, Tenoch, and Julio was their spontaneous mischiefand their ability to enjoy themselves, even ifmomentarily so. These moments ofimpulsein Ytu mamá tambiénwerehilarious and sexy even if their consequences were...