plug: Voy a Explotar

A slight rebellion in Mexico City

There is a bit of perfect pop by Empress Of called “When I’m With Him” that came on the other day. Here are some of the lyrics. 

You found me lost

Loved me like a desert rain

I tried, I fought

But I just don't feel the same

I feel possessed

I speak but can't express

I lay in bed

Replaying life we once lived

I’ve heard this song hundreds of times. It’s one of my favorite songs. Lorely created three minutes and thirteen seconds of perfection. But for this time it reminded me of a film I watched on IFC when I was in film school called Voy a Explotar.   

Voy a Explotar is a story of lovers on the run set in upper-middle-class Mexico City. Román is the son of a right-wing congressman and is recently enrolled in a new high school, where he finds a soulmate in loner Maru. They meet, fall in love, make a plan, take a gun, steal a car, go on the run, revolt against boredom. It’s a teenage version of Godard’s Pierrot le fou, but with the backdrop of Mexican culture and politics and tragedy. 

It’s a moody and meandering story about what it feels like to be misunderstood until suddenly, miraculously, you’re not. It’s about lighting a cigarette and listening to pop music and practicing what you’re going to say to the boy who you’ve been waiting your whole life for. It’s about lust and intimacy and the violent tendencies it brings out when you’re too young to understand what is happening. 

Empress Of’s “What I’m With Him” and Voy a Explotar are works that capture that feeling beautifully.