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First-time director Alejandro González Iñárritu burst into the world's cinema spotlight with his multi-award-winning feature Amores Perros (a.k.a. Love's a Bitch). Heralded as a masterpiece by audiences and critics alike, this acclaimed Mexican drama weaves together three diverse tales rich in thematic material concerning relationships, love and loss. Director Iñárritu infuses his picture with raw energy that's both intriguing and confrontational. Amores Perros is extremely compelling, expressive, entrancing and challenging. Featuring a non-liner storyline (ala Pulp Fiction), this gripping drama presents a mosaic of dissimilar characters living despondent lives in the economic melting pot of Mexico City who all become connected by a tragic car accident.
Amores Perros shares undeniable similarities with Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, although most of said similarities are at surface level. Like Tarantino's Oscar-nominated masterpiece, Iñárritu's film deals with a range of characters living on the seedy side of life. The plot unfolds episodically and in a non-coherent manner - characters from one segment occasionally feature in (or pass through) another. However, Pulp Fiction glamorised the characters - the conventional "bad guy" seemed hip and appealing, as established through witty dialogue and stylish filmmaking techniques. However, Amores Perros does not romanticise the characters. Iñárritu exposes his characters for what they are - human beings whose moral compasses have become twisted. Thus the territory may seem familiar to Pulp Fiction fans, but the vantage point is drastically divergent. Amores Perros introduces us to a veritable gallery of contemptible individuals. Of the multiple significant characters traversing through Iñárritu's terrain, not many could be considered sympathetic. The other characters form a web of corruption and deceit. There are assassins, murderers, philanderers, thieves, traitors, in addition to other varied riff-raff. Tarantino's anti-heroes are cool and debonair, always with the right one-liner to offer. Iñárritu's characters are brutal and lacking even a modicum of charm.
Amores Perros begins with a kinetic, exhilarating, bone-crushing car chase. The devastating outcome of this chase acts as a catalyst for the rest of the stories for the film. Following this car chase, the film then imaginatively delves into three devastating stories involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life's ruthless realities - all in the name of love. It's a risky device to delay crucial plot points until past a third of its runtime, but the individual stories - which weave in and out of each other with realistic disarray - are so transfixing that you're willing to go along with the ride until everything becomes clear.
The first story concerns an optimistic young man named Octavio (Bernal). He lives with his older brother Ramiro (Pérez), their mother, and Ramiro's young wife Susana (Bauche). Incessantly abused by Ramiro, Susana struggles to complete high school whilst trying to care for their infant son. Regardless of living in fear of his violent older brother, Octavio is hopelessly in love with his sister-in-law Susana and is determined to raise sufficient money to convince her to run away with him. But in Mexico City where poverty abounds, clean money is difficult to acquire. With little alternatives, Octavio enters his dog in the local dog-fighting circuit.
Of the three stories, this is the most entertaining. A viewer can certainly grow concerned about Octavio and Susana. When the romance begins to go south, it's also affecting. The movie starts with the car accident from Octavio's perspective. At the end of this story it is replayed, but this time we meet two other characters who had been subtly introduced beforehand.
The next narrative thread tracks two people: Daniel (Guerrero) and Valeria (Toledo). Valeria is a world-class model who has struck the big time. Her face and body dominate billboards throughout Mexico City. Daniel is a magazine publisher who has left his wife and two offspring to be with Valeria. Together, they make the perfect couple...until tragedy strikes. Valeria is critically injured in the car accident. Daniel is therefore compelled to cope with living with a mentally and physically crippled woman whose modelling career is at an end. The hopeful life Daniel had envisioned begins to reek of decay. The relationship between them takes a slow downward spiral as Valeria loses herself in a bout of depression, and Daniel learns that fantasy and reality are never the same.
The middle story suits the film on thematic level, but on a story level it seems detached. The story stands on its own, and is a study of delusion and impossible love. It's powerfully acted by Goya Toledo and Álvaro Guerrero.
The final story is about El Chivo (Echevarría) - an enigmatic, wild-looking figure that drifts around the periphery of the preceding stories until his tale is finally told. Chivo is fundamentally a hobo hitman who prefers the companionship of dogs rather than people, endlessly wandering the streets of Mexico City with his cart and menagerie of stray dogs. An ex-guerrilla, Chivo has spent 20 years in prison; long ago abandoning his wife and daughter. Many years later, he's a man beleaguered with regrets. He spies on his adult offspring from afar, never mustering the courage to approach her. In order to feed himself (and his stray dogs) he carries out the occasional contract killing. However, upon his latest assignment, he arrives at a few realisations about the importance of family and wishes to start anew.
If the first story concerns young love and the second about false love, then this story is about lost love. Emilio Echevarría carries this entire story. He has an immense screen presence that builds the character's mysterious qualities. His emotional scene in the end - a plea to his long lost daughter - is both extraordinary and heart-wrenching.
A theme crucial to the plot(s) of Amores Perros is the character's relationships with their canine companions. The dogs in this picture are about as significant as the human characters.
In spite of loving his dog more than anyone else in his entire family, Octavio willingly jeopardises the life of his dog in vicious fights to win his fortune.
Valerie loves her pooch Ritchie more than she would a child (and, one might argue, more than Daniel). When Ritchie gets trapped underneath the apartment floor, her dog's confinement begins to distinctively reflect her own.
El Chivo treats his mangy pack of dogs with greater respect than he accords to any human.
By elevating dogs to this level of importance, Alejandro González Iñárritu is making a proclamation about the level to which society has stooped. Amores Perros is a sombre commentary regarding a culture where persons care more about their dogs than they do about any other humans.
Amores Perros is a tremendously confronting film. Raw emotion plays a large role in the story and it's difficult to stomach. The explicit scenes depicting dog fights will prove gruelling and excruciating for animal lovers. These dogs seem to be genuinely fighting. As a matter of fact, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in England complained about the dog-fighting scenes to the British Board of Film Classification. The faint of heart may be appalled with the constant sight of dead, bloody dogs. These scenes, however, are necessary to the film - not solely to help create the film's atmosphere and emotion but to offer a parallel to the world these characters dwell in.
The film has been implemented magnificently. Music is employed effectively to provoke emotion in the viewer. The direction is wonderful and the editing sublime. Following his successful directorial debut, Iñárritu went on to direct 21 Grams and Babel - both of which received critical acclaim. His first film, though, still remains a stirring, visceral eulogy to life, loss and dog-fighting on the mean streets of Mexico.
Both poignant and astonishing, Iñárritu has directed a truly beautiful and confronting drama infused with the affluence, violence and poverty that constitute the soul of Mexico City. Highlighting the sharp contrast between poverty and the wealth of more affluent citizens, the film's deeply textured characterisations and locations generate a depth infrequently witnessed in Hollywood cinema. The sheer energy of Amores Perros is breathtaking. Director Iñárritu exudes a masterful control of story and style, blending the two impeccably to generate an incredible film. Although the visual flair is omnipresent, it never obstructs the story. Style over substance is an all-too-common occurrence of late, so it's refreshing (to say the least) to behold an extremely stylised film that never falls into this trap. With its stalwart cast, and featuring one of the most frenzied car chases in recent memory, this is one drama every cinema buff simply must see.
Iñárritu has surrounded himself with an amazing cast. Amores Perros is an ensemble piece, yet there isn't a poor performance in sight - even the trained dogs do solid jobs. The first story is undoubtedly stolen by the appealing Gael García Bernal. Bernal's performance throughout the film encompasses the correct gamut of emotion - ranging from utter joy and elation to anguish, desperation and widespread emotional devastation. The young actor manages everything with professionalism and skill. He is competently supported by Vanessa Bauche whose naïve yet optimistic Susana is tremendously believable. Her quandary seems hopeless, but she never gives up hope.
Emilio Echevarría places forth a magnificent and thoughtful performance as the hopeful El Chivo. He's simply magnetic, with radiating eyes staring out from beneath shaggy eyebrows. They are the eyes of an extremist, yet there's also a feeling of unspeakable loss in them as they gaze in the direction of his long-lost daughter. The realism conveyed by the actor contributes significantly to the story as he immerses himself into the character to a required standard.
The rest of the performances - Goya Toldeo as Valeria, Álvaro Guerrero as Daniel and Marco Pérez as Octavio's brother Ramiro - are all utterly brilliant.
This film was nominated for both a Golden Globe award and an Academy award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. Amores Perros has also won a number of prestigious awards at various film festivals, including Cannes where it received the audience awards for Best Film (Critics Week and the Young Critics Award). In addition to these, the film has also received wide critical acclaim from both the critics and audiences alike (much-respected critic Roger Ebert wrote a glowing review of the film). Watching the film, it's not difficult to understand why. Iñárritu's directorial style contains elements of Tarantino, and others. Ultimately, though, the synthesis is all his own. Amores Perros is more than just a strong debut; it's terrific, gritty filmmaking.
The emotional roller coaster ride of Amores Perros commences with a frenetic, breathless car chase. This wonderful energy pervades the film until the dramatic climax. This is the kind of film that allows you to see the world differently after watching it. Contemplative, provocative and excellently made - this is first-rate filmmaking. It's horrific and tender, raw and lyrical - albeit sometimes excruciatingly overlong.
8.4/10
