Wild Tales (2014) Review!!

Synopsis – A story about love deception, the return of the past, a tragedy, or even the violence contained in an everyday detail, appear themselves to push them towards the abyss, into the undeniable pleasure of losing control.

My Take – Frankly, its really hard to pin down your thoughts about unconventional Argentine-Spanish black comedy-drama film, mainly because the film is compiled of six short stories into one. This short films follow a common theme – the limit of our patience, or like it’s tagline says…”All may lose control”. This is probably the darkest and most hilarious film I have seen in years! NO! Its not a comedy! Just that the segments are so hilarious and over the top, you cant help but smile, but at the same time satirical and somehow realistic, it’s almost impossible not to feel identified with one of the characters, with one of their situations, despite the awkward moments they struggle that in some passages make us feel uncomfortable. Talking about each tale in detail will cut the impact and somewhat surprise of each one. Let’s just say that the outcomes of each tale are far from being predictable, completely driven by logic not cliches.

Based on the shock value & hilarity I would rank the films in this way: 1. “El más fuerte” (The Strongest): about two men going wild on the road trying to kill each other. 2. “Hasta que la muerte nos separe” (Until Death Do Us Part): It’s about what is likely the craziest wedding party in movie history.3. “Bombita” (Little Bomb): about an engineer who sees his life ruined by bureaucracy regarding his repetitively towed car & how he plans his wicked vengeance masterfully.4. “Pasternak”: How all the passengers in a plane are related to a common man.5. “Las ratas” (The Rats): two waitresses plan to kill a customer with rat poison due to personal reasons.6. “La propuesta” (The Proposal): a wealthy business man finds himself at the crossroads when his son runs over and kills a pregnant woman with his car. In each story a modern frustration wells up until the character erupts. All the stories involve a furious revenge, with a broadening range of characters. To convey the tensions in modern life, ordinary sounds are amplified, like the luggage wheels in the opening shot. Ordinary people that find themselves in awkward situations they didn’t look for, and that’s the beauty of this movie. It works very well like that, lasting close to 120 minutes that go by quickly. It feels very fluid. And the merit of director Damián Szifrón is to tell those stories with an exquisite combination of intrigue, suspense and a remarkable and effective dark humor.

The acting, editing, photography and the music of Gustavo Santaolalla are all ingredients that give extra points. On the whole, Divided into six chapters with technically no direct interrelation but with a compelling thematic cohesion, Wild Tales (original Spanish title, Relatos salvajes) is a masterfully crafted dark comedy of incredible shrewdness and wit. It can be hilarious, fascinatingly demented, awesomely violent, and more often than not just plain weird. The segments had in common the themes of revenge and the loss of control, and the inner longing we all have for letting ourselves be carried away by our deepest and most violent impulses but we never let that happen. This leads me to conclude that in many ways, this film might as well be a sort of twisted psychological fantasy as well as a sharp social satire. This film is a perfect example of what we call enthralling piece of cinema. Must Watch!