I’m Gonna Explode (Voy A
Explotar)
Jean-Luc Godard famously
opined that “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.” Having suffered
far too many Godard films in my time, I’d add that a script comes in handy too.
Or if it’s Sandra Bullock’s home movies; nudity, swearing, Nazi-fetishism and
excrement. Allegedly. In fact, most films would be enlivened by the addition of
these things. While writer/director Gerardo Naranjo’s tale of doomed romance
and disaffected youth (is there any other kind?) I’m Gonna Explode (Voy A
Explotar) manages quite well without
the Nazis and excrement, a script would have been nice.
Teenagers Roman (Juan Pablo de Santiago) and Maru (Maria
Deschamps) are our two sullen heroes
who, in the best traditions of John Hughes-style teen romance, are from
opposite sides of the tracks; he’s the wealthy son of a dodgy politician, she’s
the tough-talking daughter of a humble nurse. Drawn together by their mutual
apathy, boredom and contempt for everyone and everything around them (kids,
eh?), they decide they’re too cool for school and, after faking Maru’s
attention-grabbing kidnap, they take off in a stolen car and head for…the roof
of Roman’s house where they hide out and spy on the fuss they’ve created while
indulging in the time-honoured clichés of coming of age movies (drinking?
check, intimate confessions? check, death fantasies? check, 1st
sexual fumblings? check). But young love’s fantasy idyll is fleeting. Cue the obligatory unhappy bloody
ending…
Produced by Y Tu Mamá
También’s stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, I’m Gonna Explode, while enjoyable, never quite explodes. A talented
director, Naranjo is no writer and his script feels more like a ragbag movie
mash-up with its alienated teens mooching around in a vaguely Nouvelle Vague
way and its swoony, naively romantic Badlands-style voiceover. It’s like instead of hitting
Chicago, Ferris Bueller bought a gun, stayed home and masturbated over A
bout de soufflé (a little like the
director).
While you’re never in much
doubt that things are going to end in tears – let’s face it, have you ever seen
a film where the central character’s gun fetishism and violent fantasies ended
happily? – Naranjo is well-served by his two young leads who make the most of
their underwritten roles, investing their paper-thin characters with a life and
vulnerability that isn’t on the page.
De Santiago is cool in a self-consciously hip, nerdy way but the real
revelation is Maria Deschamps whose intelligent performance is tough, honest
and nakedly raw.
I’m Gonna Explode’s biggest problem is it feels like pretty much every
film (with the exception of the rabid Sin Nombre) to come out of Mexico since Y Tu Mamá También. Much of the film inspires nothing but an
overwhelming sense of déjà vu as it runs through the same old clichés and pays
homage (steals) from the director’s favourite films. Even well-executed moments
like the scenes where the couple spy on their parents feel second-hand,
borrowed from Guillem Morales 2004 The Uncertain Guest (El Habitante Incierto), a film where the protagonist literally spends most
of the film hiding behind the woman he’s stalking’s sofa.
I’m Gonna Explode is at its freshest in its 1st third when
the director’s jerky, kinetic visuals serve to capture Roman’s fragmentary,
chaotic state of mind, Maru’s voiceover inviting the audience into her head, as
these two kindred spirits meet and fall for each other during a school talent
show where Roman stages his mock suicide, an act that surely anyone who’s ever
been to a school play or talent show will applaud. Despite all their posturing
what’s refreshing about the film is the banality of the heroes’ rebellion.
Ramon and Maru aren’t Bonnie and Clyde or Mickey and Mallory; two nihilistic
outsiders riding straight to Hell.
They’re a couple of teenagers playing hooky from reality. Ultimately,
their rebellious fantasy is domestic; they’re not out to smash the system, they
just want to play house.
David Watson
Director
Gerardo Naranjo
Screenplay
Gerardo Naranjo
Starring
Maria Deschamps, Juan Pablo
de Santiago, Pedro González, Daniel Giménez Cacho
Country
Mexico
Language
Spanish
Running time
106min
Certificate
15
Year
2008
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