By This River
Song of the Day 07/26/2022
By This River by Brian Eno
Except for Gravity, which I didn’t like at all, Alfonso Cuarón’s films are genuine and earnest, devoid of any cloying aspects. They are emotional, even sometimes sentimental, but never annoying, never trite. Y Tu Mama Tambien, the best Cuarón film, is a sincere coming of age story. It’s also a film about love, lust, friendship, deceit, the complexity of sexual orientation, fatal illness, class tension, and the ubiquitous corruption in Mexican politics. With simplicity, Cuarón touches on all these themes and pulls it off. In other words, it is a masterclass of socio-political commentary.
I first heard of Y Tu Mama Tambien from my seventy-something grandmother in Scotland, who said she went to see it and found it ‘very sexy.’ My parents went to see the film shortly afterward, I don’t know whether or not they agreed. I was eight years old when it came out. It was one of those movies I saw at every video store. The famous poster, of two men and one woman in a sensual embrace, was hung at Kim’s Video on Bleecker, Tower Records on Lafayette, and even, for a short amount of time, at Blockbuster on 8th street. I think I rented something else, like About A Boy, Catch Me If You Can, The Matrix, or The Hot Chick. I finally came around to seeing Y Tu Mama Tambien in high school. Entranced, I watched it over and over and over again. As I continued studying, I watched it several times per-year, noticing something new each time. It really is an incredibly complex, layered narrative that is also easy and enjoyable to watch; unique and mesmerizing.
Brian Eno’s By This River appears halfway through, over the car speakers in the middle of a road trip while the protagonists smoke a joint and stare into space. I didn’t actually find out the name of this song until I was 23, when a friend was playing atmospheric music one evening at a slightly morbid rooftop barbecue. It was a pretty cool feeling, finally figuring out the name of one of my favorite songs. And like Y Tu Mama Tambien, I can enjoy it on repeat without getting bored.