Director Alejandro Iñárritu heralded the Mexican New Wave cinema with Amores Perros.
Between 2010 to 2020. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro have won 5 Best Director Oscars between them.
Amores Perros in some ways has a beginning reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs. It has a dog bleeding profusely in the back of a car instead of Mr Orange who has just been shot.
The rest of the film has a jumbled narrative. A bit like Pulp Fiction. However that is where the similarities end.
A car crash in the streets of Mexico links three set of stories.
The first story is about Octavio (Gael García Bernal) who lusts after his sister in law Susana. She is married to his older brother Ramiro who brutalises her. Already pregnant with a second child. Octavio enters the world of dog fights to earn enough money to run away with her.
Luckily the dog he has is a beast who beats all comers. However a rival hoodlum does not like Octavio, his older brother and the dog. That is the catalyst which leads to the car chase and the eventual crash.
The second story concerns rising model Valeria. She has just moved into a luxury apartment with her older married lover. Disaster strikes as she is badly injured in a car crash. When she arrives home with a severely injured leg. Her dog disappears under the floorboards.
The third story concerns El Chivo. He is in the periphery of society and has a tangential role in the first two parts of the story.
He is a tramp who roams the streets with his cart and a pack of dogs. He rushes to aid Octavia in the aftermath of the car accident.
It also turns out that El Chivo was once a well respected academic. A family man who became a revolutionary and was then jailed. After leaving prison, he became a hitman but now sees things differently when he reads news that his ex wife has died.
This is a full throated movie. It is a visceral study of the working class and the underclass of Mexico.
The dog fighting scenes although short can be off putting for some. Octavio is one of the nicer people in the movie. Ramiro is not only rough with his wife. Despite working in a supermarket he is also a violent robber.
Although Valeria represents the aspirational celebrity strata. Her story is an allegory.
The dog being lost underneath the floorboards that is crawling with rats shows how easy it is to slide down. Valeria loses modelling work and her lover wants to get back with his wife. Being with an injured scarred model was not the life he was hoping for.
The more intriguing story was that of El Chivo and his transformation. His realisation that he should had been there for his family.
Despite the harshness of life there is a moral undertone to Amores Perros. It is a confident gritty full feature debut by Iñárritu. The film could had done with being tighter especially with the middle story.
The interlinked narrative was used again by Iñárritu in Babel.
Between 2010 to 2020. Iñárritu, Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro have won 5 Best Director Oscars between them.
Amores Perros in some ways has a beginning reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs. It has a dog bleeding profusely in the back of a car instead of Mr Orange who has just been shot.
The rest of the film has a jumbled narrative. A bit like Pulp Fiction. However that is where the similarities end.
A car crash in the streets of Mexico links three set of stories.
The first story is about Octavio (Gael García Bernal) who lusts after his sister in law Susana. She is married to his older brother Ramiro who brutalises her. Already pregnant with a second child. Octavio enters the world of dog fights to earn enough money to run away with her.
Luckily the dog he has is a beast who beats all comers. However a rival hoodlum does not like Octavio, his older brother and the dog. That is the catalyst which leads to the car chase and the eventual crash.
The second story concerns rising model Valeria. She has just moved into a luxury apartment with her older married lover. Disaster strikes as she is badly injured in a car crash. When she arrives home with a severely injured leg. Her dog disappears under the floorboards.
The third story concerns El Chivo. He is in the periphery of society and has a tangential role in the first two parts of the story.
He is a tramp who roams the streets with his cart and a pack of dogs. He rushes to aid Octavia in the aftermath of the car accident.
It also turns out that El Chivo was once a well respected academic. A family man who became a revolutionary and was then jailed. After leaving prison, he became a hitman but now sees things differently when he reads news that his ex wife has died.
This is a full throated movie. It is a visceral study of the working class and the underclass of Mexico.
The dog fighting scenes although short can be off putting for some. Octavio is one of the nicer people in the movie. Ramiro is not only rough with his wife. Despite working in a supermarket he is also a violent robber.
Although Valeria represents the aspirational celebrity strata. Her story is an allegory.
The dog being lost underneath the floorboards that is crawling with rats shows how easy it is to slide down. Valeria loses modelling work and her lover wants to get back with his wife. Being with an injured scarred model was not the life he was hoping for.
The more intriguing story was that of El Chivo and his transformation. His realisation that he should had been there for his family.
Despite the harshness of life there is a moral undertone to Amores Perros. It is a confident gritty full feature debut by Iñárritu. The film could had done with being tighter especially with the middle story.
The interlinked narrative was used again by Iñárritu in Babel.