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Overall Rating
  Awesome: 66.12%
Worth A Look: 25.62%
Average: 6.61%
Pretty Bad: 0%
Total Crap: 1.65%
8 reviews, 73 user ratings
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| Amores Perros |
by Brian McKay
"Seemingly uneven, Questionably overlong, Indisputably intriguing"
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AMORES PERROS is one of those Tarantino-esque slice-of-life films that seems to proudly boast in every frame: HECHO EN MEXICO (that’s “Made in Mexico” for all you complete whitebread gringos). And while the three principal tales do not always blend perfectly, they are definitely tales worth watching.The film is divided into three acts, in which we are introduced to three sets of characters and then are shown how their disparate lives intersect. First we are introduced to Octavio (The fantastic Gael García Bernal of Y Tu Mama Tambien), who is trying to steal his hot cuñada Susanna (the unbelievably cute Vanessa Bauche) away from her abusive asshole husband, who is Octavio’s older brother Ramiro (Marco Pérez). Even though Susanna has a newborn and is already pregnant with another, he is determined to raise enough money to take her and the little bundles of Ramiro’s joy away. He decides to enter his rotweiler in the lucrative luchas de perros (dogfights), after the dog puts a back alley ass whooping on the dog of a local thug.
Meanwhile, across town, Magazine editor Daniel (Álvaro Guerrero) has just moved out on his family and in with supermodel mistress Valeria (Goya Toledo). But a sudden tragedy, and the disappearance of Valeria’s beloved pooch, leaves the future of her modeling career and their relationship in jeopardy.
Finally, we make the acquaintance of El Chivo (Emilio Echevarría), an old man who keeps several stray dogs and walks around like a homeless person (although he is in fact neither homeless nor carless) and becomes involved in shady assassination deals. In the meantime, he tries to force reconciliation with his daughter, now a successful young businesswoman who thinks him long-dead. His attempts to reach her are as sad as they are disturbing, as he exhibits creepy stalker behavior.
Throw them all into the Pulp Fiction blender and you have Amores Perros. It’s an ambitious narrative that commands attention, but that occasionally finds its grasp exceeded. The three acts are not given equal time, and yet all three of them go on for much longer than they need to, resulting in a bit of a rambling 153 minute running time. However, the excess is forgivable, considering that it is director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s first time directing a feature film. All things considered, he did a more than competent job, and the inclusion of a kick-ass cast like this one, especially powerhouses like Garcia and Echevarria, can hide a multitude of pecadillos.Members of PETA (or as I like to call them, “those whiny-ass bitches”) will probably find AMORES PERROS an affront with its extended and vicious dogfight sequences and numerous images of dead and bloody pooches – hey, they claim that no animals were harmed in the making of . . . but it all depends on what your definition of “harm” is, doesn’t it? Still, if you find your stomach strong enough for the canine gore, then you may find the meat of AMORES PERROS seasoned to your liking.
link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=4941&reviewer=258
originally posted: 09/02/03 14:00:20
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USA
13-Apr-2001
UK
N/A
Australia
12-Apr-2001 (M)
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