AJ’s Screening Room: Budding Bromance and Beyond with Y Tu Mama También

August 4, 2023
AJ SLOAN

Let me just start by saying, I used to fap to this next flick on the reg when I was younger. Maybe it was because of the relatability of some of the scenes in it, maybe it was because of the bromantic sexual tension between the two leads, or maybe (definitely) it was watching Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal jacking off on side-by-side diving boards out in public under the afternoon sun and nutting into the chlorinated communal waters below them. D: All of the above.

Spoilers ahead: Alfonso Cuarón’s 2001 film Y Tu Mama También (And Your Mother Too) documents the road trip shared by two young men and the mysterious vixen (Maribel Verdú) that comes into their lives. The homoerotic tensions start building from the first few minutes of this flick (said pool scene is not too far into the film) and crescendo throughout the story culminating with a climax worth climaxing to. Riddled with hot sex scenes of the hetero and homo varieties, the film leaves little for the imagination while still upholding the artistry of the film as a whole. Is there such a thing as emotional edging? I dare you to try.

Diego Luna’s and Gael García Bernal’s performances are so vulnerable and authentic that you can’t help but believe that the sexual tension between the two men was rooted in something that may have been planted off-screen (we can only hope). Their experimentation with each other teeters on the ledge of “no homo” territory, with their bro dynamic spilling out from the screen in every scene that they share. It’s not gay if we don’t make eye contact, right? We’re still straight if there’s a chick present, yeah? By the end of the movie, our bicurious buddies will have answered all of these questions for themselves and then some.

The irony that watching these two dudes stumble through their confused sexual feelings for each other provided me (and I’m sure countless others) with clarity in my own super gay sexual identity. Y Tu Mama También is definitely a film to revisit over time if for no other reason than to remind you of your own queer yesteryear (or rub one out for old-time sake). Thank you, Alfonso Cuarón, for your simultaneous contribution to my queer identity and my spank bank. Throw this one onto your Netflix and Chill queue. You’ll be glad you did, I promise.