The first ninety minutes of so of Amores Perros is magnificent. It would maybe even qualify as one of the greatest films of all time. Gael Garcia Bernal is incredible, perhaps his best role, and the cinematography complements the plot perfectly, full of dark and dirty shots. The dog fighting is intense and particularly well shot. The characters are real, the acting is believable and nuanced, the plot goes at a fast pace and I was gripped.
Then the film changes course completely, to a film about a model and her unfaithful boyfriend who get caught up in the car crash. And the film dies right there. It becomes boring, stilted, uninteresting, and I found myself drifting away several times. The characters didn't intrigue me, the storyline was weak, and even when they brought the old man with the dogs and the beard into play it wasn't enough to save it. Watching the model cry 'Richie' over and over again while her dog was stuck under the floorboards bored the tears out of me, and it's a subplot and dialogue line that went on for nearly half an hour.
They had something really special here and ruined it. This should have been edited down and the latter plot lines should have become minor distractions if they were included at all. It's such a waste of the groundwork laid early on; a masterpiece turned into an average film. I only watched on in the hope I'd see the conclusion to the initial plot. Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Motorcycle Diaries and La Mala Educacian are all better than this as far as the classic Gael Garcia Bernal films go.
Then the film changes course completely, to a film about a model and her unfaithful boyfriend who get caught up in the car crash. And the film dies right there. It becomes boring, stilted, uninteresting, and I found myself drifting away several times. The characters didn't intrigue me, the storyline was weak, and even when they brought the old man with the dogs and the beard into play it wasn't enough to save it. Watching the model cry 'Richie' over and over again while her dog was stuck under the floorboards bored the tears out of me, and it's a subplot and dialogue line that went on for nearly half an hour.
They had something really special here and ruined it. This should have been edited down and the latter plot lines should have become minor distractions if they were included at all. It's such a waste of the groundwork laid early on; a masterpiece turned into an average film. I only watched on in the hope I'd see the conclusion to the initial plot. Y Tu Mama Tambien, The Motorcycle Diaries and La Mala Educacian are all better than this as far as the classic Gael Garcia Bernal films go.