Amores Perros
***
Cinema
Releases - June 1, 2001
Certificate 18. 153 minutes. Directed by Alejandro
Gonzales Inarritu. Written by Guillermo Arriaga Jordan. Starring Emilio
Echavarria, Gael Garcia Bernal, Goya Toledo, Alvaro Guerrero, Vanessa Bauche,
Jorge Salinas, Marco Perez.
Every review I've read of "Amores
Perros" mentions the influence of Tarantino, and indeed Alejandro
Gonzales Inarritu's film does borrow shots from "Reservoir Dogs" and carry
a structure similar to that of "Pulp Fiction". But Tarantino's films are
anthologies of pop culture and his imagery is heavily inspired by comic books
and 1970s cinema. "Amores Perros" is visually vibrant in a different way
-- here it is sharp contrasts of light and blasts of harshness and brutality
that grab our attention.
The title is translated as "Love's a Bitch" --
a pun referring to the tattered relationships of the characters and the key
roles that dogs play in their lives. Alongside the human stories, the dogs'
plights provide visually arresting commentaries and
illustrations.
One of the movie's three stories involves two
young friends who begin to make money from dog fighting. This gets them in
a lot of trouble with gangsters, and also leads to some gruesome scenes of
canines getting ripped apart. At the same time as his pet is getting butchered,
Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) is trying to pull off a doomed plan to run away
with his brother's wife.
Cut to Daniel (Alvaro Guerrero) and Valeria (Goya
Toledo). He's a middle-aged businessman, she's a model; he's left his family
to move in with her. Soon after the happiness of the first few days, she
gets paralysed in a car accident, and soon after that, her precious little
puppy gets trapped beneath the floorboards. The days of rescue attempts mirror
the crumbling of the couple's relationship, as they break down from
claustrophobia, negatively heightened passion and paranoia. Every little
scratch and whimper is a grating noise, and every sigh and drop of sweat
conveys the awkward mood with power.
Another story involves a tramp (Emilio Echavarria)
who left home many years ago to join the Sandinista rebels. Now he bums around
and occasionally does contract killings. He's a passionate man, but another
frustrated one, and essentially has nothing to live for except his dogs and
attempts to reintroduce himself to his long-lost daughter.
If the film has a flaw, it's that it goes on too
long; the last story develops with a kinda clichéd trajectory, and
could have been trimmed. But all the stories are involving, because Innaritu
is a clever visual stylist. If I've made the role of the dogs seem obvious
and simple-minded, then I've misled you; they work excellently as a visceral
way to involve us in the emotions of the situations. What better way to make
us wince than show a dogfight, or a puppy whimpering for his freedom? The
use of high-contrast photography and harsh sound design also grip us to the
situation, and while the film does not arouse enough passion to be the
masterpiece some have declared it, it does do well at getting under our
skin.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
2001 Reviews
(alphabetical)
2001 Reviews (by star
rating)
Archive of all cinema reviews
(alphabetical)
Review Archive
Index
UK
Critic main page
|
![[Image]](http://www.ukcritic.com/posbanr2.gif)