Quentin Tarantino set high standards with "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction." Though both are excellent films, it seems like every similar movie since has been labeled a Tarantino wannabe. This means that good movies go ignored, such as last year's outstanding "The Way of the Gun," which was unjustly criticized for being a Tarantino rip-off when in reality it's more like a modern day western.
"Amores Perros," loosely translated as "Love's a Bitch," is the first film from Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Immediately it was compared to a Tarantino but that is unfair and untrue. Though the structure of the story is similar to "Pulp Fiction," that is where the similarities end. And "Amores Perros" is good enough to stand on its own.
Barely giving the viewer time to sit down and relax in their seat, the movie starts out with a frantic car chase. Some thugs are racing after Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) while his dog bleeds to death from a gunshot wound in the back seat of his car. Suddenly there is a violent crash.
Then the first of the three stories in "Amores Perros" begins. It focuses on a love triangle between teenage Octavio and his older brother's young wife, Susana (Vanessa Bauche). His brother is a violent, unfaithful lout and Octavio wants to run off with Susana. To make money he enters his dog into an underground dog-fighting ring.
The second story concerns a successful, married businessman named Daniel (Alvaro Guerrero) and his beautiful mistress, Valeria (Goya Toledo). He lives his wife and children and moves into an apartment with her. Their life together is changed forever by the horrible car crash.
Finally, there is the tale of a homeless man named El Chivo (Emilio Echevarria). Once married with a young daughter, El Chivo left his family to become a revolutionary. Now he takes care of dogs and tries to make contact with his grown up daughter. He also happens to be a contract killer.
Working from a screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga, Inarritu lets the stories slowly unfold, showing how the crash affects each character's life. Brutally violent and painfully sad, "Amores Perros" is a stunning movie. It displays the truth behind the title and how we can never control what happens to us.
Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, "Amores Perros" lost to the overrated and overhyped "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Hopefully American audiences will embrace the former like they have the latter. It's a much better film and should not be missed.
Grade: A
"Amores Perros" starts Fri., April 27 at Landmark's Oriental Theatre.
