Wild Tales (2015) [Blu-ray]
Comedy | Drama | Thriller

--- Subtitled ---

Inequality, injustice and the demands of the world we live in cause stress and depression for many people. Some of them, however, explode. This is a movie about those people.
Vulnerable in the face of a reality that shifts and suddenly turns unpredictable, the characters of Wild Tales cross the thin line that divides civilization and barbarism. A lover's betrayal, a return to a repressed past and the violence woven into everyday encounters drive the characters to madness as they cede to the undeniable pleasure of losing control.

Storyline: "Relatos Salvajes" is a black comedy film divided in six segments. (1) "Pasternak": one model and a music critic in a plane find that they have a common acquaintance called Pasternak. Soon they discover that every passenger and crew on board know Pasternak. Cosmic coincidence? (2) "The Rats": a waitress of a diner recognizes her client as the loan shark that caused a tragedy in her family. The cook suggests mixing rat poison in his food, but she refuses. But the cook decides to proceed in her plan. When his son arrives, the waitress tries to fix the situation. (3) "The Strongest": Two drivers on a lone highway have an argument with tragic consequences. (4) "Little Bomb": The demolition engineer has his car towed by a truck for parking in a wrong place and he has an argument with the employee of the towing company. This event destroys his private and professional life, and he plots revenge against the corrupt towing company and the City Hall. (5) "The Proposal": The reckless ... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, June 6, 2015 -- There's a cosmic connection here.

"Wild?" That might be an understatement. Writer/Director Damián Szifrón's Wild Tales presents six engaging short stories of life gone wrong and the bloodlust and bloodletting that's a result in one unbelievably well made and engaging motion picture. The film plays off of base human emotions and explores the darker side thereof as wronged people exact revenge and, in doing so, only escalate already deteriorating situations and often find more negative than positive results in the aftermath of their actions, if they're even around to witness the final tally. The Osar-nomianted movie balances its dramatic darkness, emotionally unstable characters, and sometimes heavy violence with a subtle, but effective, underlying sense of humor in a "all that's left is laughter" sort of way as the movie plows through its uneasy tales that are confidently assembled, wonderfully performed, and endlessly engaging.

In "Pasternak," a plane-full of people quickly realize that they all have a connection to a man named Gabriel Pasternak, and they've all in some way negatively influenced his direction in life. In the second short, "Las Ratas," a waitress recognizes a customer as a man who drove her father to suicide. She toys with the idea of murdering him by lacing his food with poison. A driver finds himself caught in a bloody feud following a case of road rage that gets out of control in "El Más Fuerte". The main character in "Bombita" finds himself fed up with a corrupt city service and plots revenge. A spoiled rich kid in "La Propuesta" is involved in a hit-and-run accident and leaves his father to clean it up. Lastly, "Hasta Que la Muerte Nos Separe" depicts a bride who discovers her groom hasn't been faithful and proceeds to wreck the wedding. These are the stories that define Wild Tales, gloriously left to their own devices and sharing only a common thread of human rage taken to the extreme, not awkward interconnectedness or forced character relationships one with another.

Wild Tales is a sly little thing, a superficially dark and disturbing collection of shorts that showcase man at his worst, presenting a number of stories in which people feel compelled, for whatever reason, to seek revenge, wrestle with justice, lose control, resort to extreme measures, fight uphill battles, work the system, and allow passion -- more than one kind of passion -- to overwhelm their sensibilities. There's at least a hint of most every one of these emotional outlets in each short, but only one of them is at the center of each, a center defined by a broader context that sees characters engaged in a total loss of self-control, in the case of the "Pasternak" short by way of an unseen character but in all of the others a person, or people, who dig themselves into a hole from which they cannot escape, leaving them with no choice but to furiously scratch and claw in an effort to avert disaster. Or they merely settle in and take whatever comes their way, digging further in the process and going along for the ride, consequences be damned. It's a fascinating look at man's base emotions, far removed from accepted societal norms and decorum and moving as far towards "fantasy" as possible while still remaining, ever so slightly, in the realm of possibility if the circumstances added up to a complete freak-out that momentarily erases any sense of self and the body is taken over by raw, uncontrollable rage. But underneath all the negativity is a darkly fun movie, one that so expertly toys with that boundary between "possible" and "wild fantasy" that one cannot help but to see the humor in it, to surrender to the absurd and enjoy the ride in a train wreck sort of way that's fascinatingly grisly but so over the top and peppered with so much avoidable chaos that the grotesque becomes a point of levity. It's brilliant storytelling and audience manipulation at every turn.

Many viewers will undoubtedly pick up on some similarities the shorts share with other properties. There's a certain Twilight Zone vibe to the entire thing, not because there's any kind of Sci-Fi connection but there is a Serling-esque surreal scope and flow to the shorts in how, as noted above, they feel so distant, almost fantastical, but still play out on some relatable level. In each one, crazy things happen to otherwise normal people who are suddenly thrust into an unbelievable situation as that classic "ripple effect" drags the characters into an abyss of inescapable despair and base, almost inhuman instinct takes control. There are also obvious similarities to other films with more focused single-event stories; "El Más Fuerte" reminds of Duel and "Bombita" is essentially a microcosm of Falling Down. But there's never any sense that these aren't creatively original even if their superficialities seem to share ideas with other properties. Their togetherness in the film, their tight focus, and their shared underlying structures and themes help build a broader narrative that will leave audiences in a state of emotional disarray as they process the darkness, the levity, and the social commentary that's all subtle but nonetheless exacting in every deliciously weird and captivating moment.

Wild Tales shares six stories that range from humorous to uncomfortable, from weird to grotesque, all of them offering a fascinating look at the worst people have to offer, albeit stemming from happenings that aren't necessarily of their own making. The movie is filled with people making bad choices, people whose motivations range from innocuous to vengeful, from spiteful to hateful, all of them touching on some extreme of human nature that, even with polite society conditioning almost always otherwise taking precedence, still exists somewhere way back in the recess and is always ready to come out when the world pokes someone the wrong way. This is a brilliant film with some superficial similarities to others but plays as a uniquely unnerving collage of, well, wild tales that will leave audiences reflecting both on the insanely great quality of the entire filmmaking process -- the acting, sound engineering, precise direction, even the carefully considered content flow from one short to the next -- and the deeper, darker, and in some ways disturbingly humorous strings that connect them. Sony's Blu-ray release of Wild Tales is a technical gem, boasting perfect video and audio. It's a shame more supplements couldn't be included, but everything else about this package is stellar. Highly recommended.

[CSW] -4.1- Six short segments about the art of "revenge" in this entertaining Oscar nominated comedy/drama from Argentina. The opening story, Pasternack is a true comic gem a la Almodovar (who is one of the producers). I have a feeling that each person seeing this will have a favorite story. I was delighted that it was far ahead of the usual Hollywood films. The film is outrageous and I there is a little bit of crazy in all of stories, however they are all easy to relate to. Watch it and enjoy a film that is an original. If the price comes down, I will add this to my collection. It is worth watching again and again.
[V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.


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