- Title: MEXICO: CONTROVERSIAL YOUTH MOVIE IS SHOCKING MEXICO'S CINEMA FANS
- Date: 1st July 2001
- Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (RECENT) (REUTERS) WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF MOVIE THEATRE WIDE OF INTERIOR OF CINEMA FOYER SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MOVIE GOER, MARIA HERNANDEZ, SAYING: "I think that depends on the person but for me it was too much because there are scenes that to show one thing, you don't have to show everything." SCU MOVIE POSTER SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MOVIE GOER,
- Embargoed: 16th July 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MEXICO CITY AND UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS, MEXICO
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA3SDVC1VAKQZAULJJR3YL3I7SR
- Story Text: A new film depicting two foul-mouthed teen-agers having sex with an older woman, smoking pot, masturbating and engaging in a fleeting homosexual romp is testing Mexico's increasingly liberal society.
The filmmakers say "Y tu mama tambien" ("And your mama, too") is a coming-of-age drama that portrays the lives of Mexico's urban youth, but Mexican authorities are preventing the target audience from seeing the film, saying that elements in the film are inappropriate for viewers under
They have given it a C rating for adults 18 and older.
The filmmakers want to mount a legal challenge to the rating, calling it arbitrary and hypocritical.
"It is a movie about sex, but not a movie that explicitly shows it just to show it, but at the same time it doesn't hide anything, but simply is honest with the characters and sees things as they would happen," said director Alfonso Cuaron.
"Y tu mama tambien" broke Mexican box office records for local film openings, grossing $2.2 million in its first week even as cinemas turned away viewers under 18. Whether or not the rating debate has boosted its appeal, it is among a series of recent film hits that challenge long-standing Mexican social and political mores, sparking controversy and joining what critics call a national cinematic renaissance.
Among the first, "Sexo, Pudor y Lagrimas" ("Sex, Shame and Tears"), smashed box office records in 1999. More recently "Amores Perros" ("Love's a Bitch") was nominated for an Academy Award as best foreign film. Both were rated C.
The censorship charge recalls last year's controversy over "Ley de Herodes" ("Herod's Law"), a movie that brashly and hilariously lambasted the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) at the time still in power after seven decades.
Authorities first tried to bury that film before it gained wide release and widespread success. It also was rated C.
The popularity of these movies reflects changing attitudes toward sexuality, drugs and authority in this overwhelmingly Catholic, traditionally macho society.
But Cuaron, a Mexican now living in New York whose English-language credits include "Little Princess" and
"Great Expectations," said his new movie was suffering from remnants of the authoritarianism that marked the PRI's rule, which ended with the party's defeat in last July's presidential election.
"Y tu mama tambien" chronicles a road trip by two Mexican teen-agers and a Spanish woman 10 years their senior. Amid alcohol-soaked, lust-fueled comic turns, the journey takes on existential dimensions as it confronts questions of innocence, friendship and mortality in the context of Mexican society.
At a recent showing, viewers in the packed theater howled in gleeful incredulity at one scene depicting a spontaneous homosexual encounter.
"For me it was too much because there are scenes that to show one thing, you don't have to show everything," said movie goer, Maria Hernandez.
"Y tu mama tambien," like other films, was viewed by a panel of seven Interior Ministry's office of Radio, Television and Cinematography (RTC) staff members, who unanimously applied the rating. Its blithe depiction of marijuana use weighed most heavily in the rating, they said, followed by the frank treatment of adolescent sex, which has been praised by critics.
When filmmakers objected to the rating and asked for a reclassification, a second panel of seven ratings board members came up with the same result.
Still, the filmmakers expect an even harsher response in the United States, where they are negotiating the movie's release.
"The U.S. seems to be more liberal and I think they are the most puritanical in the world. So they won't be able to watch this movie. But that being said, they're going to want to watch it because in the end that is how they are," said actor Maribel Verdun.
The Motion Picture Association of America's recommended ratings, while not mandatory as in Mexico, are followed by most exhibitors. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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