Wild Tales2014

“Revenge is a dish best served cold”. Or at least that’s how the old adage goes. Relatos Salvajes or Wild Tales is a black comedy anthology film that consists of six separate stories that center around the theme of retribution. The stories in this anthology consist of “PASTERNAK”, “LAS RATAS”, “EL MÀS FUERTE”, “BOMBITA”, “LA PROPUESTA” and “HASTA QUE LA MUERTE NOS SEPARE”. Black comedies are one of my favourite sub-genres in movies and television and the way this film is able to interweave levity with moments of seriousness and messages that are poignant is masterful. The stories illustrate instances in life where we’re screwed over by people, friends, family, acquaintances, lovers, forces beyond us, institutions and our , at times more irrational responses to said injustices. The stories all thrive on negativity and i love that about the movie. All the short stories are enjoyable for the most part and some endings hit harder than others. There is also an implicit theme about classism and the class struggle within some of the anthology stories. PASTERNAK - This story opens up with a shot that displays a woman with heels walking into an airport to check in her luggage. Upon first glance this seems mundane and feels like a typical airplane voyage. The lighting used is warm to indicate a familiar and comfortable setting. once the woman checks in her bag upon the plane a friendly man assists her and the short starts exploring their common thread together. The woman and the man converse about a person they knew named Gabriel Pasternak and his failed aspirations of getting his classical music published. The man worked at a music conservatory and you can see his stomach fall as the mere mention of his name gets him sick. Another strange woman enters the conversation also stating that she knew pasternak. This woman turns out to be pasternak’s elementary school teacher. Also the woman who we encounter first cheated on pasternak with his only friend. The next individual seems to be pasternak’s former classmate and bully and the other individual appears to be his former employer. The flight attendant also trained with pasternak and once she turned down his advances she was also marked for death. What was a charming flight of coincidences and airing out grievances about one guy takes a horrifying left turn when we find out that pasternak is the man behind the helm of the plane. His psychiatrist tries to talk sense into him but it’s all in vain. I love how if we look at it objectively, pasternak had petty grievances with everyone on the flight especially the psychiatrist lmao. I love how it’s justified to the audience that these people needed to die because of the way everyone in that plane shat on pasternak. it may seem like a coincidence that all these people have a contentious relationship with pasternak, but as the story reaches it’s climax we start to realise it was all part of pasternak’s masterstroke of doing away with everyone who did him dirty. What should be a horrifying and terrifying plane crash ends hilariously as the plane crashes into his parents(the people responsible for the person he was in greater society). The emotive score was also good towards the end. A truly masterful example of blending tension and comedy into an entertaining and gripping whole. LAS RATAS - I love the blue lighting, the rainy atmosphere and the dark palette. It really accentuates the poor iconography. I couldn’t really get behind the protagonist of this tale, she was too unassertive especially when she went into this whole spiel about how the man who entered the establishment essentially ruined her life. I understand that, that conflict was used to build tension but the possibility of the son eating the meal was quite frankly enough. The head cook was real. She was my favourite character in this tale. She was willing to make the tough decisions and i value that in people. Shout out to Rita Cortese (Cocinera). Although she was a wee bit extreme as she was willing to put the mob boss’s son on the papers as well even though he was innocent. The mob boss deserved to die though especially with how patronising he was to the protagonists. This story has a class undertone, which i really appreciate. Gangsters and mobsters gaining political power is a main stay in third world countries. One of the tales which had a lackluster ending to me. Good build and set up though. EL MÀS FUERTE - Classic revenge and irrationality tale. This one didn’t really appeal that much to me because all of that could’ve easily been avoided and didn’t need to escalate. Maybe that’s the point. It wasn’t funny as much as it was surreal and off putting. Damian Szifron does understand how to build tension though I’ll give him that. I enjoyed the music towards the end as those two idiots were causing each other bodily harm towards their eventual deaths. An excellent exploration of human irrationality. BOMBITA - What seems like a regular day for Simon, the demo