A List About Sex Can't Please Everyone

I'm going to show you a list, and I want you to guess what it represents. 

41. High Fidelity (2000)

36. Boogie Nights (1997)

32. Being John Malkovich (1999)

30. Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)

28. Henry and June (1990)

27. Boys Don't Cry (1999)

23. Brokeback Mountain (2005)

14. Team America: World Police (2004)

13. Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

3. Mulholland Dr. (2001)

2. A History of Violence (2005)         

These are the 11 movies I've seen out of the 50 listed in IFC.com's 50 Greatest Sex Scenes in Cinema. It's a fun list to read, but to my disappointment I had only seen eleven out of the fifty movies. Therefore, I knew this would make me less than qualified to argue over this list. I only have one legitimate issue about the compilation, so hear me out.  

Recently exposed to Alfonso Cuarón's 2001 film, Y Tu Mamá También, I was eager to find where it ranked on IFC's list. With five love scenes (six if you include a self-love scene) there was no way it couldn't have made it on the list. It did rank at lucky number 13, but this daring and poetic film should have at least made the top ten. It got the shaft. Pun intended!

I'm not normally the kind of girl to swoon over actors, or be a super-fan who makes godawful juvenile YouTube sildeshows that completely miss the mark, but I really do want to advocate Y Tu Mamá También as the sexiest movie I have ever seen.



If you want to know how qualified this film is for a higher spot on the list, just hit play on the video above. The first frames, let alone the first five minutes are filled with a love scene that sets the tone for the whole movie.

Y Tu Mamá También is a sensual film featuring the debut of Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal, who you can see together once again this May in the comedy Casa De Mi Padre, and Maribel Verdú, who you may know from Pan's Labyrinth. Set on a road trip in Mexico, this fearless film tells of life's common tribulations of love, sex, friendship, and politics, with a heavy backdrop of mortality. It's basically about the transience of life. You are left questioning which issues are actually worth focusing on. I could go on and on about the deeper meanings of the film to prove to you that I'm not a total horn-ball, but let's just get to the point. 

The film creates a collision of teenage and adult concepts of love, presented in gut-wrenching realism. The love scenes are raw and unflinching, without cuts, and are shot in real time - so to speak. There's no pretending that these teen boys can handle such activity; they only last about a minute.

As for the specific scene IFC mentions as number 13 on their list, it was certainly a tremendous surprise ending and appropriate conclusion (don't read the description on their list if you want to watch the full film without spoilers). However, that particular scene is cut way too short. The best scene is when Luna and Verdú's character's finally get it on, mixing Verdú's almost motherly guidance with Luna's teenage eagerness, that begins with child-like shyness and crescendos to him impulsively and strategically kicking away a secondary motel bed in a surprising act of bravado.

It is not only the quantity, but the quality of the love scenes that should bring Y Tu Mamá También to the top of the list. Quality, not being defined by duration, but realism, which makes it relatable and therefore drawing you into the moment.
And that's just fundamentally what makes for an excellent film.