I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned the scene in which all three of them are sitting on the beach and Luisa asks something to the effect of, "Don't you wish you could live forever"? Ebert specifically said "two shots" so if he was referring to Luisa, the one I just mentioned, along with the scene in the doctor's office would make most sense to me.
That being said, when I've read that, I too was thinking of the possibility of Julio having been bisexual all along. Remember, near the end of the movie, they mention a friend by the name of Daniel, who turned out to be gay, and got kicked out of his home as a result. Upon hearing this from Julio, Tenoch says something along the lines of, "That's messed up", to which Julio responds, "No, he's happy. Got a boyfriend and everythin'". Further, if you look carefully at the scene in which Luisa goes down on both of them, it's Julio who makes a reluctant effort to bring his face closer to Tenoch's. Also, unlike Tenoch, Julio doesn't puke when he realizes what he had done the night before. None of these might mean anything in and of themselves, but couple them with the points raised by previous posters, like how Julio tears up after Tenoch leaves at the the end, and they might allude to Julio being bisexual, which I believe he was.
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Dreamers_x_Disease
8 years ago
Just stumbled upon this thread and I'll say...reading that Ebert quote my mind did go to Julio first before Luisa. I think Luisa is too obvious to be the answer here. We get more of her inner life than we do of the boys. Not that we go without some, but I don't think her illness and impending death was all that subtle. Maybe the viewer wouldn't assume she'll be dead that soon, but with the Doctor's visit they would at least know something is wrong. I don't think it requires all that much searching and close examination of her story to see what's bubbling underneath, in my opinion.
But this case can be better made for a character like Julio. We don't get as much insight into him as we do with Luisa and we are forced to make more inferences with him and Tenoch. I think this is all up to whomever is watching it though as we aren't really given enough to be definitive. Having tears in his eyes or a distressed expression doesn't necessarily mean he was gay/bi the whole time or whatever...he could be mourning Luisa or in shock about it, sad about losing his best friend, unsure of the future, feeling like he's compromised himself for that future. Any or all of those things could have been troubling him or going on in his head. His sexuality certainly could have been a factor or the main contributor, but we'll just never know. It's all how you read it or what you happen to take away from it.
That said, I think Julio was much more open to the idea of him and Tenoch being a couple or wasn't as horrified as to what happened between them. So, I get the arguments for this being what Ebert was referring to, clearly it is a theme of the movie, and damnit if it doesn't make it just a little more tragic. Them not being friends anymore was sad enough, but to think Julio could be harboring some secret, unrequited love for Tenoch takes it up a notch.
Movies like this drive me crazy, in the best way, because they give you just enough hints to let you leap off into the deep end of what this or that could mean, but hold back on ever being declarative about anything. It forces you to think, and wonder, reflect, and invest in what's happening more and I'd say that's a pretty good sign of an awesome movie
Pardon the rant, haha, I just love this film a whole lot.
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