After reading a lot of praise about "Amores Perros" I finally managed to see it. And....... it certainly didn't disappoint. Although not completely in the groundbreaking-classic ballpark some reviewers were quick to award, it contains more than enough passion, inspiration and underlying insightful observations to deserve a strong recommendation.
Much like Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", another auteur (along with Luis Bunuel) Inaruttu noticeably borrows from, "Amores Perros" is split in three stories that briefly, unexpectedly and unaware of each other connect through a single event - horrific car crash on a Mexico City street.
Appropriately, considering the movie's title, dogs play important parts in lives of the protagonists of each story. Further fittingly, love is another thing giving them trouble.
From enthusiastic Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) who hatches a plan to run away with his hothead abusive brother Ramiro's (Marco Perez) young bride Susana (Vanessa Bauche) using funds he obtained by entering family dog Cofi in illegal fights, over to slick magazine editor Daniel (Alvaro Guerrero) who abandons his wife and kids to be with a young professional model Valeria (Goya Toledo) and her beloved dog Ritchie, and ending with 'El Chivo' (Emilio Echevarria), a gruesome looking squatter with a pack of dogs in tow who was a onetime guerilla and is now supplementing his income by killing for money while trying to reconnect with the daughter he left many years ago...these are all richly observed, authentic, slice-of-life tales.
Without visual or emotional sweetener, we're allowed to look at the world these people inhabit. Invariably one will recognize plenty of Inarrutu's cinematic influences, two of whom I mentioned already. Still, this is a very authentic work by a great director. Cleverly vivid imagery (hole in the floor, things bubbling underneath the surface), punch-in-the-gut style, uncompromising treatment of characters.... are just a few of the things making "Amores Perros" a very worthwhile experience at the movies.
Much like Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", another auteur (along with Luis Bunuel) Inaruttu noticeably borrows from, "Amores Perros" is split in three stories that briefly, unexpectedly and unaware of each other connect through a single event - horrific car crash on a Mexico City street.
Appropriately, considering the movie's title, dogs play important parts in lives of the protagonists of each story. Further fittingly, love is another thing giving them trouble.
From enthusiastic Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) who hatches a plan to run away with his hothead abusive brother Ramiro's (Marco Perez) young bride Susana (Vanessa Bauche) using funds he obtained by entering family dog Cofi in illegal fights, over to slick magazine editor Daniel (Alvaro Guerrero) who abandons his wife and kids to be with a young professional model Valeria (Goya Toledo) and her beloved dog Ritchie, and ending with 'El Chivo' (Emilio Echevarria), a gruesome looking squatter with a pack of dogs in tow who was a onetime guerilla and is now supplementing his income by killing for money while trying to reconnect with the daughter he left many years ago...these are all richly observed, authentic, slice-of-life tales.
Without visual or emotional sweetener, we're allowed to look at the world these people inhabit. Invariably one will recognize plenty of Inarrutu's cinematic influences, two of whom I mentioned already. Still, this is a very authentic work by a great director. Cleverly vivid imagery (hole in the floor, things bubbling underneath the surface), punch-in-the-gut style, uncompromising treatment of characters.... are just a few of the things making "Amores Perros" a very worthwhile experience at the movies.