Wild Tales (film)

Wild Tales
Argentine theatrical release poster
Directed by	Damián Szifron
Produced by	Hugo Sigman Agustín Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Matías Mosteirín Esther García felipe photiades Gerardo Rozín
Written by	Damián Szifron
Starring	Ricardo Darín Oscar Martínez Leonardo Sbaraglia Érica Rivas Rita Cortese Julieta Zylberberg Darío Grandinetti
Music by	Gustavo Santaolalla
Cinematography	Javier Juliá
Edited by	Damián Szifron Pablo Barbieri Carrera
Production company	Corner El Deseo Kramer & Sigman Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	17 May 2014 (2014-05-17) (Cannes) 21 August 2014 (2014-08-21) (Argentina)
Running time	122 minutes[1]
Country	Argentina Spain[2]
Language	Spanish
Budget	$3.3 million[3]
Box office	$26.4 million[4]

Wild Tales (Spanish: Relatos salvajes) is a 2014 Argentine-Spanish black comedy film written and directed by Damián Szifron and starring an ensemble cast consisting of Ricardo Darín, Oscar Martínez, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Érica Rivas, Rita Cortese, Julieta Zylberberg, and Darío Grandinetti. It was co-produced by Agustín Almodóvar and Pedro Almodóvar. The film's musical score was composed by Gustavo Santaolalla. It was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.^[5][6]

An anthology film, it is composed of six standalone shorts united by a common theme of violence and vengeance.^[7][8]

Plot

The first story and prologue is "Pasternak": Two passengers on a plane discover that they know a man named Pasternak: the woman was his former girlfriend, and the man was a music critic who savagely reviewed his work. They find out that everybody else on the flight is also connected in some way to Pasternak. It turns out that the whole flight was a trap organized by Pasternak, who was the purser. Pasternak crashes the plane into his parents' house.

"Las Ratas" ("The Rats") features a loan shark who stops at a small restaurant by the highway. The waitress recognizes him as a man who had ruined her family. She refuses the cook's offer to mix rat poison in his food, but the cook adds the poison anyway. When his son joins him and eats the same food, the waitress tries to take the poisoned food away. The man begins to attack her when the cook appears and kills him with a chef's knife. Soon after the cook is taken away by the police.

"El más fuerte" ("The Strongest") features two men driving cars on a lone highway. Mario, whose car is old and damaged prevents Diego, whose car is fast and expensive, from passing him. But Diego finally gets around the slower car, insulting Mario as he passes. Further up the road, Diego gets a flat tire, so Mario catches up with him. Mario parks his car in front of Diego's and proceeds to smash his windshield, and defecate and urinate on his roof. Diego then pushes Mario and his car into the river and drives off, but has second thought and returns to run down Mario, losing control and going down into the river too. Mario enters Diego's car through the trunk and gets a lit rag into the gas tank, while the two fight inside the car. As the tow truck driver arrives on the scene, and sees nothing on the road or shoulder, the car blows up. When the police arrive, they see two charred bodies that appear to be holding each other, and theorize that it might be a "crime of passion".

"Bombita" ("Little Bomb") features Simón Fischer, a demolitions expert whose car is towed away for parking while he's picking up the cake for his daughter's birthday. Fischer goes to the towed-car lot and argues but to no avail. He pays the fee, but arrives home as his daughter's party is ending. When he goes to pay the parking ticket, he argues again, attacks the glass partition, and is hauled away by security as other people in line cheer him on. The story gets on the news and the company Fischer was working for fires him. Meanwhile, his wife seeks a divorce and sole custody of their daughter. Fischer then goes to an office to unsuccessfully apply for a new job, and comes out to find that his car has been towed again. After retrieving his car again, he then packs its trunk with explosives, watches as his car is towed again, and detonates the explosives while the car is parked in the towed-car lot. The explosion does not kill anyone, which was Fischer's plan, but he is arrested and placed in jail. His trial is presented as a montage of news voiceovers and newspaper clippings, during which the corruption of the towing company and the city are exposed, and there are widespread calls on social media for the urban hero, known as "Dynamite", to be released. Meanwhile Fischer is celebrating his own birthday in jail, applauded by guards and fellow inmates alike, and attended by his wife, with whom he is now reconciled, and his daughter. They present him with a birthday cake with a toy tow-truck on it.

"La Propuesta" ("The Proposal") features a kid from a rich family who hits a pregnant woman with his dad's car, and drives away without helping her. The young man drives home and wakes his parents to tell them what happened. Mauricio Pereyra Hamilton, his father, calls his lawyer and they hatch a plan to have their groundskeeper, Jose, take the blame and go to jail for the crime, in return for payment. The accident is all the rage on the TV news, where it is reported that the woman and her unborn child have both died, and the late woman's husband threatens vengeance. The police and local prosecutor arrive, and the prosecutor sees through the scheme because the car's mirrors were not adjusted for the caretaker. But the lawyer negotiates to include the prosecutor in the deal, for more money. The caretaker then also asks for an apartment along with his money, and the prosecutor asks for an additional payment to pay off cops, the police chief, and others as needed. The guilty son says he wants to confess to the gathered crowd and media, as it is the right thing to do. The men refuse, but the father gets fed up and walks away, calling the deal off, and yells to his son that he should confess and go to jail. The lawyer continues to talk with the father, and they eventually agree on a price. The caretaker walks out front to get into a police car and go to jail, when suddenly the husband of the dead woman attacks him with a hammer.

The final story, "Hasta que la muerte nos separe" ("Until Death Do Us Part"), takes place during a wedding party. The wife discovers that her new husband had been cheating on her with a girl who is at the wedding. She confronts him with this as they dance in front of everyone, and she eventually leaves the party and goes up on the roof of the building, where a kitchen worker comforts and advises her. When her husband reaches the roof, she's having sex with the hotel worker, and says that she'll sleep with every man who shows her any interest or kindness, and take him for all he's worth if he tries to divorce her, or when he dies. They return to the party and continue with some of the dancing and festivities, but the bride pulls the woman her husband slept with out onto the dance floor, spins her round and round, and slams her into a mirror. She continues to behave erratically, eventually yelling at her husband and his mother, as he is crying, slouched on the floor. His mother attacks her, and is pulled off by her husband and the bride's father. The groom picks up the knife for the wedding cake, but just cuts and eats a piece of cake. Finally, he approaches his new wife, they slowly begin to dance and kiss, and then begin having sex on the table alongside the wedding cake, as their guests file out of the room.

Cast

Reception

The film was seen by more than 2 million spectators in its first 24 days since the premiere. As of September 2014, it became the most seen film in Argentina in the year, displayed in 275 cinemas in the country. With 274,042 spectators in the 11–14 September weekend, it outmatched Hercules, the second most seen film, which had 78,546 spectators.^[9] By the end of its run in Argentina it had sold an estimated 500,000+ tickets, making it the most seen Argentine film of all-time.^[10]

On Rotten Tomatoes, based on 64 reviews, Wild Tales holds a 92% 'fresh' rating, with an average score of 7.9/10, and with the critic consensus being: "Wickedly hilarious and delightfully deranged, Wild Tales is a subversive satire that doubles as a uniformly entertaining anthology film".^[11] On Metacritic, the film holds an average score of 77, based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[12]

The film was received with acclaim at Cannes,^[13] allegedly receiving a ten-minute standing ovation.^[14] Early reviews in Argentina have also been favourable.^[15]

The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.^[16] It was also scheduled to be screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.^[17] The film was screened in the Pearls section of the 2014 San Sebastián International Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best European Film.^[18]

Accolades

Legacy

After the 2015 crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, BFI and Curzon cinemas modified their home cinema listings of this film stating that there was a similarity between the fictional crash at the start of the film and the real Germanwings crash.^[19]

See also

• List of submissions to the 87th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
• List of Argentine submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

References

External links

• Official website (Spanish)
• Wild Tales at the Internet Movie Database
• Wild Tales at Box Office Mojo
• Wild Tales at Rotten Tomatoes
• Wild Tales at Metacritic
• Wild Tales at Cinenacional.com