Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

In his last film, the Ethan Hawke/Gwyneth Paltrow remake of "Great Expectations", I felt like director Alfonso Cuaron wasn't able to fully spread his wings and use all his talents. Hampered by the rigid structure of the book, Cuaron had to scratch and claw to get his beautifully arty shots into the film. That particular tension doesn't exist here. In tackling a road movie like this, one with a searching narrative, Cuaron is able to lead his camera into nooks and crannies as much as he desires, in order to find true cinema rather than just a movie. One shot in particular stands out. After enduring a lengthy conversation at a picnic table, the camera abruptly gets up and leaves, exploring the kitchen area of the restaurant. There it finds a gaggle of old washerwoman, dancing sprightly to the music playing on the radio. It's a moment of pure joy that has nothing to do with the story being told, but doesn't need to. Cuaron also has a fun time, during the many car scenes, letting his camera float from the car to capture crucifix imagery; one is painted on a rock face, another marks a grave. The agnostic in me wanders if he's making a grand religious statement, i.e., the characters must bypass the cross in order to get to Heaven (or rather Heaven's Mouth, the name of a beach that doesn't exist… or does it?). On the other hand, knowing how this all ends, maybe it’s a condemnation of their nihilistic ways. A movie that offers paradoxical interpretations through one dominant motif is just fine in my book.

Cuaron composes his scenes through a series of long cuts. I've always loved this technique, for it allows the director and the actors to subtly build tension over the length of the take, and it creates a voyeuristic feeling in the audience. Cuaron's actors never let the takes stray from the reality of the scene, and for a film dominated by two actors in their early twenties, that is saying something.

Gael Garcia Bernal plays Julio Zapata, and Diego Luna plays Tenoch Iturbide. The boys are real teenagers: animalistic, horny, insensitive, passionate, stupid, etc. But each is exceptional in his own way. Bernal captures lower-class pride, but also envy of his richer friend. Luna, playing the son of a man important enough to invite the President to his daughter's wedding, captures Tenoch's reckless and wasteful rebellion quite well. The boys together are stunning, ably showing the close bond that Julio and Tenoch share. In the beginning they are asked to play scenes that at first strain all credulity (lying next to each other on diving boards, pants down by their ankles, I wondered, "Is this how teenage boys bond these days?"), but given the benefit of hindsight, perfectly show the exact relationship that they share.

Maribel Verdu plays Luisa Cortes, the older woman who tags along with Julio and Tenoch on their way to the beach. Luisa is a fascinating and complex character, much more than the buxom babe that she at first appears to be. Maribel has to play several scenes where she is crying uncontrollably, and to her credit they never cross the line from stark to maudlin. She also has to become the catalyst for the boys sexual reawakening, and she pulls off the desirability and sensitivity of this part of her character with stunning assurance.

The sex scenes, and there are four of them, are clumsy, energetic, graphic, and, well, quick (in a sense). The film opens with an unapologetic shot of Tenoch in bed with his girlfriend. She is leaving for Europe the next day, and Tenoch, in mid coitus, makes her promise not to "F--- any Italian guys". It is a perfect note to begin for a film as free and open and immature as this one.

That being said, most of the film's first third didn't work for me. A clumsy narrator intrudes often to give the audience background information on each of the characters. I'd prefer to be shown this kind of thing than told about it. But eventually, the narrator settles into another function, one that amplifies the film greatly. He starts to break into the action with talk about the characters' unmentioned pasts, then their unmentionable presents, and then their unknowable futures. We find out that one secondary character, a fisherman, will soon be put out of work by the coming influx of commercial fishing companies; seeing this man, happy in his element while the audience knows his fate, is a heartbreaking moment. The film becomes, then, just a snapshot of these people's lives, one that is affected by all that came before, and that truly affects all that comes after. In some very surprising and extreme ways. Be patient with the clumsiness of the beginning, for you will see that it was necessary when you get to the poignant end. This is a fine film that truly gains power upon reflection afterward.

Recommended: Yes