Customer Reviews

Solo Con Tu Pareja (The Criterion Collection)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In his madcap debut film, the Mexican director of "Y Tu Mama Tambien" somehow fuses a bawdy farce in the grand Hollywood tradition with a modern commentary on HIV and mortality--and makes it work. What begins as a room-to-room sex romp--with Tomás clambering along catwalks between his apartment and that of his friend Mateo (Luis de Icaza), who's helping out in the seduction game--soon takes a sobering turn as the bird-dogging bachelor finds himself wrapped in the arms of both love and death. Assured and lively, fluidly paced and buoyantly acted, "Solo con tu pareja" is a slapstick comedy with a zesty Latin heart.

Criterion surely must be one of the top prestige DVD labels in circulation right now, and as such I look forward to their release schedule. Covering bona fide classics, international hits, and also championing smaller and unorthodox films, there is a lot to learned by checking into their exquisite presentations. So being a huge fan of Alfonso Cuarón's "Y tu mamá también" and having watched his evolution in American cinema (capped off by last year's "Children of Men"), I was excited to check out Criterion's presentation of an early Cuarón film--"Sólo con tu pareja." Described here by many as a romantic comedy, I'm going to call it what it is--a pretty traditional sex farce. Anyone familiar with the sex farce genre (particularly international efforts from France and Spain) will instantly recognize many of the elements (both good and bad) which seem to follow this type of film.

Any good sex farce teaches two major lessons--(1) promiscuity or irresponsible sex can be funny and (2) true love and redemption can be found in the arms of a character you either know nothing about or have nothing in common with. "Sólo con tu pareja" adheres to these lessons with precision. Following the escapades of Tomás, a copywriting Don Juan, the film instantly sets up how irresistible he is! Apparently his moderate good looks, bumbling manner, whiny behavior and inconsiderate nature are like catnip to Mexico's most beautiful women (he even beds a bride on her wedding day, rock on)! With plenty of slapstick and sexual frolicking, the first hour of this picture plays out exactly as you might imagine. Then Tomás spies his new neighbor, falls instantly in love (without speaking to her), and becomes even more clumsily endearing (or at least more clumsy).

There is an interesting twist in the film's final third. Many have already given it away, but I won't. It refreshingly tweaks the film and leads to both its funniest scenes and its outrageously staged conclusion. The film does have its amusing moments--a bit with a microwave, an advertising spoof, and a fantastic dream sequence. It is at these times, you can see real imagination at work! But overall "Sólo con tu pareja" is just a slight flight of fancy. It looks great, and the disc is impressive--but it is what it is.

I guess the bottom line is that I found "Sólo con tu pareja" to be a passable entertainment, but one I probably wouldn't recommend. It's just all too familiar (to me, at least). By itself, it's unlikely it would have joined the Criterion ranks. But Criterion has championed the earlier, and lesser, works of many modern masters including Soderbergh, Campion, Cronenberg, Anders, Anderson, and many others. I certainly don't begrudge Cuarón's inclusion on that list. If nothing else, these earlier works help show the evolution of an artist and are historically interesting even if they are somewhat flawed. If you approach "Sólo con tu pareja" with moderate expectations, you might enjoy it--but I'll stick with the simplicity and surprising sophistication of "Y tu mamá también." KGHarris, 04/07.

Excelent re-Issue of one classic of the New Mexican Cinema. I was a big fan of these movie and the careful re-issue of it did not desapoint me.
Great quality in the transfer and excelletn extras.

This is not totally about aids nor does it make light of aids really. It's just a part of the plot of this great dark romantic comedy that even a romantic comedy hater can enjoy! Yes it has people attempting suicide but in hilarious ways!! If anything the wonderfully eccentric actions of the main character Tomas Tomas was worth viewing the movie in itself!

In his debut feature, Alfonso Cuaron, a leading figure in the current renaissance of Mexican cinema, presents a mostly amusing contemporary take on Mozart's "Don Giovanni." His protagonist Tomas is a modern, Mexico City variant of that unreflective womanizer who recurs in all times and cultures. Like Mozart's Don, Tomas experiences mostly embarrassing comic encounters and little erotic success during the part of his life treated in the film, and at the end he too has a comeuppance, though one more in line with the forgiving, screwball comedy spirit of Blake Edwards or Ernst Lubitsch than that of Mozart's "dramma giocoso."
If the film has a weakness, I would say it's the prolongation of Tomas' early farcical encounters which threaten to grow tiresome and don't fully blend with the film's subtext of social criticism.
Otherwise, this is a movie of considerable merit, and it heralds the future career of a highly talented filmmaker.
Praise should go as well to the beautiful photography and the skillful comic acting of the principal players.
The Criterion DVD is, happily enough, accompanied by an extended interview with the Cuaron brothers and their star Daniel Gimenez Cacho. It is distinguished by wit and charm.

The years have not passed by this film. True, the reality in Mexico City's everyday life is way worse than then but this movie does not feel nostalgic either. The acting is very good, the story line is better and the photography is the best. The music score is amazingly well integrated into the movie. It is not easy to have Mozart music on a 90's sex comedy set in Mexico City. However it works well, very well.
My memories of this movie are always of Claudia Ramirez and Mozart's Gran Partita.
I would say that this movie stands a bit apart from all other Cuaron films. It is set in Mexico about Mexican midclass pleople and it has a freshness not found in all his other movies, which, I agree, have some other and even more important virtues as well.

First things first: there was a joke about fea-kal matter that never got resolved. Maybe I lost attention for a minute or maybe they cut it out. But the joke is left hanging sorely.
This is about a womanizer who falls in love with a "good girl." I usually don't care for that tired plot line because it's a sexist tool that divides women into madonnas vs. whores. Also, there are serious ethical issues violated here. In the US, many of these characters could go to court and sue the pants off of other characters.
Having said all that: if suicide, AIDS, racist depictions of Asians, fea-kal matter and other things could ever be funny, this film does try to achieve it. The film has a sweet ending to it.
I saw this through a certain red envelope business. Oftentimes, that service doesn't do a good job of telling the viewer where a film is made. I knew this was a Spanish-language film, but not from which country. However, once I saw mariachi musicians, HUGE sombreros, and even a Mexican masked wrestler, I realized this is a Mexican film. Still, like many Latin American movies, all the characters were white even though Mexico is filled with light brown people. So this film can be condemned for its Eurocentricity and lack of color diversity.
Still, I enjoyed this film. I think it was serendipitous that I found it. I think other viewers will be pleased by it too.

Sólo con tu pareja which means "only with your partner" is about a womanizing young man named Tomás whose promiscuity gets him into trouble.

When he has an encounter with a nurse after a visit to a his doctor, she intentionaly gives him a false diagnosis of AIDS. Despondant as a result of falsely believing he has AIDS he attempts suicide and is walked in on by a friend whose husband is cheating on her. Meanwhile Tomás's doctor learns of the Nurse's prank and Tomás's death wish and franctically tries to find him before he kills himself.

The film is directed by Alfonso Cuarón who went on to make the worldwide hit Y tu mamá también or "And Your Mother Too"

The DVD has some special features includinga theatrical trailer and a documentary of the film's production an interview with Alfonso Cuarón and his brother Carlos, and actor Daniel Giménez Cacho.

Also included are 2 short films one by each of the Cuarón brothers. "Cuarteto para el fin del tiempo" by Alfonso is about a man who lives alone in an apartment and counters boredom with unusual activities. The other film "Noche de bodas" by Carlos is about a hotel porter and maid who have intimate relations in a hotel room and are walked in on by customers on their honeymoon.

This film has some funny scenes but may offend some people due to the macabre humor and sex scenes.

this is a great movie. its funny and original. the screenplay and cinematography are really good and it shows a great view of mexico city. its an extremely funny love story that i cant stop watching.

I just picked up this video because I needed to watch any Spanish movie for my Conversation Spanish class. I loved it! Definitely the best Spanish-language movie out of the 10 or so I've seen as of now.

The movie follows a "player" in Mexico City named Tomas Tomas, who gets into sexy and hilarious situations with the women he woos. One of them, a nurse who works for his doctor and best friend, vows revenge against him after a bad date. (The bad date was sexy and hilarious, though.)

I liked Alfonso Cuaron's Y Tu Mama Tambien, but I LOVED this movie. The movie is full of slapstick comedy that can be understood whether or not you speak Spanish. And it's a unique look at the life of middle-class Mexicans, especially in a time when often all we hear are of the stereoypical laborers and illegal immigrants. I wish there were more movies like this one!