Commercial plane in the air. Interior. An older man starts hitting on a woman. She’s a model and she’s unattached (hmmm, interesting :eyeroll:); she parted on poor terms with her musician boyfriend. The man reveals he’s a music critic; does he know the fellow? What’s his name? “Gabriel Pasternak.” The surprise is palpable. The critic shredded Pasternak once upon a time. As a critic myself, I saw this at first as a cheap conversational tool, that is until the lady in front of the music critic points out that Gabriel Pasternak was a former pupil. A very disturbed one. And then another passenger three rows up admits having poor relations with Pasternak. The critic clues in, standing up and turning to the other passengers, “Excuse me, does anyone else here know Gabriel Pasternak?” All hands raised. The model sheepishly offers, “I cheated on him with … that man!” (points to a gent in the rear of the plane).
Pasternak, which unfortunately concludes before the opening credits, is my favorite of the six (6) brief tales presented. I don’t think “Wild” is quite the apt translation for this Argentinian collection. “Wild” perhaps assumes the fantastical or the immediately bizarre. Each of these stories is set-up by the blasé, an action that is common or familiar and then the line is crossed between civil and barbaric. Often in collection movies, especially in Robert Altman films, none of the tales can hold water on its own, so several are told to compensate for that fact. That is not the case here. All of the Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes) are worth telling, even the one I didn’t like. I’m honestly sorry the tales were so disjointed in terms of quality or this could have easily been a top-10 pick.
“Pasternak” :4 stars:
“Las Ratas” :2 stars: Easily the weakest of the tales; a scumbag finds an empty diner where the waitress and he share a terrible connection.
“El más fuerte” :3 stars: This one has the best punchline; the humor is very dark in Wild Tales. Basically, a motorin’ playa’ acts like a dick on the road to a redneck, and then has a flat miles down the road. That’s when the redneck stops to play.
I was floored by the insult of “wetback” in this vignette. Is that not a geographically isolated insult? I thought that only applied in my country.
“Bombita” :3 stars: This one gets the most sympathy from me; a demolition engineer gets a parking ticket and decides to fight it. The more he tries, the less he succeeds and the angrier he gets. Yeah, I could get behind that. But I’ve never had a true desire to up my revenge game. Rank amateur, Jim. Rank amateur.
“La Propuesta” :2.5 stars: I thought this one was a ruse from the beginning. It wasn’t. The teen of wealthy parents kills a pregnant lady in a hit-and-run. Dad comes up with a moral repugnant idea to keep the kid out of jail which involves paying off the gardener to take the fall. I’m suspicious of anybody who can summon the family lawyer before seven in the morning.
“Hasta que la muerte nos separe” :3.5 stars: The bookends of Wild Tales are absolute gems. This story is just a 
simple reception until the bride realizes that her new spouse is not only having an affair; he’s invited the other woman to the wedding. Well, gee, what would you do?
If you have ever attended a wedding and said, “this is bullshit,” do not hesitate to see Relatos salvajes until el fin. I assume you know the term, “Bridezilla?” You have no idea. You will get satisfaction at a reception that becomes a shit storm and you won’t guess how it ends, which is in a fashion so bizarrely cathartic, you might not be able to describe your inner peace.
Then again, you might.
A collection of forceful voices
Yield many cacophonic noises
It’s not Español
Causing lost control
Por seis tales of unreasonable choices
Rated R, 122 Minutes
D: Damián Szifrón
W: Damián Szifrón
Genre: Crossing the line between what’s legal and what destroys society
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Cynics
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Saints
