By William Wolf

WILD TALES  Send This Review to a Friend

I missed reviewing “Wild Tales” when it opened, but many have told me how excellent it was. I finally got to see it and all the buzz is on target. “Wild Tales,” written directed by Damian Szifron, is an exceptionally entertaining film from Argentina, and ingeniously on the dark comedy side. Six short stories cover such conditions as rage, revenge, human emotions and corruption. Well-chosen cast members deliver the goods in each one.

The opener, titled “Pasternak,” is amazing in that the film was made long before the German plane crash that captured world-wide headlines. Enough said. The cast in that one includes Dario Grandinetti, María Marull and Mónica Villa.

“The Rats” is a story of revenge, with Moza, a waitress (Julieta Zylberberg), recognizing a diner (César Bordón) as a man who heaped a great injustice upon her family. With the cook (Rita Cortese) getting into the act, the film takes an amusingly nasty turn.

Road rage is the subject of “Road To Hell,” with Loanardo Sbaraglia and Walter Donado as antagonists who show how far an argument between drivers can go. The film reminded me of the Laurel and Hardy comedy in which a dispute at a house results in total destruction. This tale is funny too, but in a thoroughly macabre way that may make you think twice before taking on a mean driver on whom you want to vent your anger.

In “Bombita” corruption meets payback in the story of Ricardo Darin as Simón, a driver unfairly ticketed with his car towed and fed up with the sleazy government practice employing such tactics to rake in money and offering no hope for proving one’s innocence. Thwarted and miserable, Simón figures out his own way to get even.

Corruption involving parents, their attorney and the law is ruthlessly and comically exposed in “The Deal,” when the parents scheme to cover up for their son who kills while driving recklessly with the family car. Oscar Martínez and Marîa Onetto are among the stars in this one.

Have you ever been to a wedding from hell? “Til Death Do Us Part” is a wickedly funny excursion into just such a wedding when mayhem breaks loose at the celebration after the bride realizes that her new husband has been cheating with one of the guests. The relationship between the bride Romina (Érica Rivas) and the groom Ariel (Diego Gentile) may never recover. Or will it?

The beauty of this ultra-sophisticated but also earthy exploration into aspects of human behavior pulls no punches. It mischievously uses gallows humor in all of the stories even when focusing on deadly serious situations. One may laugh delightfully no matter how awful the consequences. Mark this down as one of my year’s favorites thus far. A Sony Pictures Classic release. Reviewed June 21, 2015.

  

[Film] [Theater] [Cabaret] [About Town] [Wolf]
[Special Reports] [Travel] [HOME]