I’m Gonna Explode Director Gerardo Naranjo Certificate 15 Mexico, 2008, 1h42m, subtitles The simple image of a tent on a rooftop is the perfect expression of all that is quirky, contradictory and enchanting about I’m Gonna Explode’s depiction of a teenage escape for freedom. Following on from other Mexican films of recent years such as Y tu mamá también (Cuarón, 2001) Burn the Bridges (Quemar las naves, Alba, 2007) Sin Nombre (Fukunaga, 2009) and Naranjo’s earlier film Drama/Mex (2006), I’m Gonna Explode is as much an exploration of youth, and the optimism inherent in youth, as it is an understanding of contemporary issues affecting the region. On the one hand, the leading characters Román and Maru are on the border of adulthood and display anarchic expressions so frequently found in their age group. Román’s ‘I’ll meet you in hell’ performance-piece at the school’s talent show is at once shocking and childish and the scene in which the two characters throw notes scribbled onto tiny squares of paper at each other is both secretive and provocative. When Maru cuts off her hair, while grounded in her bedroom, the music playing compliments a teenage angst moment that is familiar across the world. On the other hand, their teenage outlook is formed within a very specific setting: the Mexican elite. Although Maru’s family circumstances are less well known and she does not come from the same privileged background as Román, their friendship and love develops within the context of his wealthy surroundings. That power and wealth go hand in hand, is illustrated by the fact Román’s father can use his influence as a right wing politician to mobilise the police in the search for his missing child. The power attached to this wealth is also highlighted through the disconcerting ease with which Román is able to obtain a gun and brandish it about in an underdeveloped parody of Bonny and Clyde. Both Maru and Román recognise that this is not a world in which they wish to be involved but, in a similar manner to many other people in their country, they cannot see an alternative. Even though much of the film is about the development of the characters’ sexuality, it also witnesses attempts by the characters to hide away from their entrance into the adult world. The red space created inside the tent they inhabit seems more womb-like than boudoir and their extended attempts to allude their parents is as much about delaying responsibility as it is about rebellion. Román terrible drunkenness at the wedding makes it clear that he is not yet able to handle adult rituals although, interestingly, the scenes in which his father is drunk suggests few of the characters in the film are capable of grown-up behaviour. This exploration of Maru and Román youth offers a departure from Naranjo’s previous work in which the young people of his film appeared to have crossed into the adult world at a disturbingly early age. In Drama/Mex teenage prostitutes look for Sugar Daddies on the Acapulco beaches, displaying a disturbingly good knowledge of what the sex-tourists are seeking. In a parallel narrative strand, boys get drunk amongst football games before driving round the city in search of revenge for a sexual betrayal. I’m Gonna Explode suggests that there is every chance its characters will enter into an equally distressing world but Maru and Román are desperate to create their own niche that will keep them apart from it. Both of these films act as a complimentary counterpoint to another major Mexican film shown recently at the GFT: Sin Nombre. The latter dealt with a strata of social life that is far removed from the privileges experienced by Maru and Román and instead showed teenagers caught up in continues overleaf GLASGOW FILM THEATRE, 12 ROSE STREET, GLASGOW, G3 6RB BOX OFFICE 0141 332 6535 WWW.GFT.ORG.UK Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) is a charity registered in Scotland. No. SCO05932. gang life and desperate attempts at illegal immigration to the United States. The way in which Sin Nombre portrayed young Mexicans struggling with the dangers of the adult world throws into relief the contradictions in Maru and Román’s actions: that their attempts to turn their back on the adult world are both highly desirable and very selfish. Importantly, although I’m Gonna Explode shows a different social side of Mexican life to the focus of Sin Nombre, the former is not a telenovela celebration of luxurious lifestyles. While Hollywood high school movies often show a comfortable middle class or take the wealth of their protagonists to extreme levels, I’m Gonna Explode is part of a trajectory of films that is critical of unconstrained privilege. Román’s father appears more in love with the power of his lifestyle than with his own family and the scene in which both sets of parents become drunk in his grand house leaves them looking impotent and despicable. Stylistically, I’m Gonna Explode allows a freer flight of fantasy than the traditional social-realism modes that characterise much Mexican and other Latin American film. It is frequently difficult to distinguish the dream sequences that occur within the characters’ heads and those that depict actual moments, such as the point at which Román kidnaps Maru from their school. Even the end of the film demands that the viewer tries to work out whether the events are really happening or not. Nonetheless, while exploratory in nature, the film remains critical of the context in which its teenagers’ lives are produced and it is thus a film that is deeply rooted in contemporary Mexican life. Dr Miriam Ross, University of Glasgow for Glasgow Film Theatre January 2010 GLASGOW FILM THEATRE, 12 ROSE STREET, GLASGOW, G3 6RB BOX OFFICE 0141 332 6535 WWW.GFT.ORG.UK Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) is a charity registered in Scotland. No. SCO05932.