Wild Tales (2014)

Movie Info

Wow, don’t mess with Pasternak…he carries a grudge.

Some say revenge is a dish best served cold so no one can see it coming.  Others say it should immediate, fast, and bloody.  An airplane trip finds a group might have a connection.  A waitress serves the man responsible for destroying her family.  A road rage incident turns violent.  A bomb maker’s frustration gets the best of him when he gets towed.  An affluent teen’s hit and run looks for a scapegoat.  A bride learns that her husband isn’t the most faithful man on her wedding day.  Revenge is coming and it will be explosive.

Directed by Damián Szifron, Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes) is an Argentina anthology film.  The movie was released at Cannes in 2014 and received critical acclaim.  It is composed of six stories “Pasternak”, “Las Ratas” (“The Rats”), “El más fuerte” (“The Strongest”), “Bombita” (“Little Bomb”), “La Propuesta” (“The Proposal”), and “Hasta que la muerte nos separe” (“Until Death Do Us Part”).  It was nominated for numerous awards including an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film.

Think you have parking problems?

I like anthology films, and Wild Tales is a great example of an anthology film.  Each story is its own mini-movie and unlike many anthology films, each stands on its own.  Wild Tales is a fun little adventure, but it can be brutal.

With anthology films, you always question what story is best.  It is a hard call in Wild Tales because all the stories are quite good.  The highlight of the movie probably is “Until Death Do Us Part” which feature the best wedding reception of all time (if weddings were more like this, they’d be better), but it is hard to even say that since other tales are quite good too.  You sometimes wonder if the tales are going to intertwine, but the writers do choose to keep them separate other than the general themes of revenge.

Remember that wedding you went to where the bride made the groom weep?

The cast also excels.  You can’t really pick a “best actor” from the group because each short stands on its own and each actor in the short is strong.  The movie did a great job casting and picking strong actors.  The wedding story does stand out with Érica Rivas as the bride, but it also is the last tale of the movie so it is what you are left with.

The movie looks great.  It has a nice, fast editing style, and it is put together great.  It is unfortunate that the movie is foreign in that you have to read the subtitles (I know that is a rotten thing to say).  I don’t mind foreign film but when you have a great looking film like this, I worry that I’ll miss the action and nuances of some of the shots.

Wild Tales is a good movie and a movie that is worth seeking out.  The film is original and fun and in the vein of Quentin Tarantino or Robert Rodriguez.  Wild Tales has a great new and original feel that it could develop a cult following over the years…it rightfully deserves it.