GAYLETTER

Y Tu Mamá También is the first phrase I learnt in Spanish. Growing up in Australia we didn’t have much need for the language so it’s not really taught in schools. I studied Indonesian in high school which was sooooo useful! lol. I learnt the phrase Y Tu Mamá También because it’s the title of the 2001 Alfonso Cuarón film that is screening tonight in Brooklyn at the Alamo Drafthouse. When it was released 17 years ago it not only launched the careers of its director and its stars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal, but it was also the highest box office opening in Mexican cinema history at the time. And it did that by only making $2.2 million it’s opening weekend. “The film tells a coming-of-age story about two teenage boys who take a road trip with a woman in her late twenties. The film is part of the road movie genre, set in 1999 against the backdrop of the political and economic realities of present-day Mexico, specifically at the end of the uninterrupted 71-year line of Mexican presidents from the Institutional Revolutionary Party and the rise of the opposition led by Vicente Fox.” It is a very sexy, gritty and engrossing film with a rather queer twist ending. You can see it tonight (May 2) at 6:30pm with a Mexican-inspired menu created by the Drafthouse executive chef Ronnie New, with drink pairings from their beverage director Vincent Favella. This is a much better way to celebrate Mexico than partaking in the upcoming Cinco De Mayo nonsense. A disfrutar!  —tom