What came first, the hen or the egg? It’s not like I ponder over this extremely annoying question everyday. But for me, there has always been something fascinating about beginnings. How does life evolve, how do people build up a business and how does an artist start a new painting? When it comes to film, it is always interesting to look back at a director’s first – often shaky – steps with a camera on her/his shoulders. In this feature, I will look back at a certain director’s first film every month.
Alfonso Cuaron is such a big name among well-known directors these days that it’s very surprising to see how few films he has actually made so far. Eight years after his first three short films – which were followed by some minor tv work – he finally released his first feature in 1991. After that, he only directed six more movies until today! Half of which I haven’t seen. However, judging from his most recent works (Gravity, Children of Men and Harry Potter), young Cuaron was not exactly the Cuaron we know today.
Solo con tu pareja is a screwball comedy. What a contrast to the bleak and just slightly humorous things Cuaron is doing these days. Featuring characters named Gloria Gold, Teresa de Teresa and Mateo Mateos (please don’t troll me if these are just regular Mexican names), the main character is Tomás Tomás (played by are you kidding me, you don’t know these actors anyway). Tomás is your typical bachelor who doesn’t even shy away from doing brides at their wedding parties. One day, he goes too far when he seduces his doctor’s nurse but keeps her waiting in a crazy going-back-and-forth-between-two-appartments scenario. As a thank you, the nurse falsely diagnoses him with HIV. After that, Tomás’s tries everything to kill himself, yet destiny and a gorgeous flight attendant save him every time.
Mexican cinema always seemed oddly beautiful to me; very emotional, rather bleak and visually gorgeous. Of course, my knowledge was mainly restricted to Inarritu and del Toro. Solo con tu pareja shows a very different side of Mexican culture: the fast-paced, urban life of the 1990s metropolitans. If the film wasn’t in Spanish and didn’t feature a Mexico City landmark in its climax, you wouldn’t even know that it’s set there. The filming locations vary between clean, sweet and homely and nothing hints at the dark corners of the city. This is a nice variation from the typical brutality depicted in Mexico-set movies but also seems a little too glossy and dishonest. Perhaps this is the western perspective talking though.
The actors are all fine but never great. Most of them overact their scenes just a bit much, which again may just be a cultural difference, but at this point in life I’m over telenovelas. It also never seems very plausible that Daniel Giménez Cacho as Tomás is a head-turning womanizer – Woody Allen, anyone? In comparison, his flight attendant crush is absolutely gorgeous, which makes the casting sort of… porny? Speaking of visuals, the camera isn’t impressive, none of the images really stick out and the look is reminiscent of mediocre 1990s rom-coms.
However, Solo con tu pareja is a fun and easy watch that will make you giggle once in a while. And if not, it will make you appreciate that Cuaron chose the ‘serious’ direction in the end. Here’s to sadness.
