Wild Tales
Composite Score: 83.5
Starring: Darío Grandinetti, Rita Cortese, Julieta Zylberberg, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Walter Donado, Ricardo Darín, Nancy Dupláa, Oscar Martínez, Germán de Silva, Diego Gentile, and Erica Rivas
Director: Damián Szifron
Writers: Damián Szifron and Germán Servidio
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R for violence, language, and brief sexuality
Box Office: $31.48 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Wild Tales is a film comprised of six short stories, connected by themes of violence, stress, and human connections, from Argentinian writer/director Damián Szifron. Each story in the anthology lives up to the moniker “wild” – featuring everything from plane crashes to car bombs to poisonings to road rage to criminal conspiracies to weddings. The film gives a full slate of insane stories to its audience, entertaining while pushing them to question what it is about stress and violence that draws them to stories in the first place. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film and won the same BAFTA, earning a place alongside many great Latin American films in history.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
I don’t quite know how to classify this film. On the one hand, its themes tie it together as a cohesive project. On the other, this could just as easily have been a slate of different short films made for a festival on the theme of violence. Now, don’t take that the wrong way and think that them being short films diminishes their quality at all. Each one is excellently made and performed and would be capable of winning a short film competition on its own. Collectively, they form a unique sort of film, not often seen these days. As far as I can tell, there is no repeated character or location or even situation from story to story, which could be a point of frustration for an audience who prefers one single narrative all the way through.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
From just a pure entertainment standpoint, this is one of the best films that I have watched in the last few weeks, needing little justification from me as to its entertainment value. Do you want drama? Comedy? Action? Suspense? Romance? Cars? Explosions (both literal and figurative)? Legal intrigue? Political commentary? Social critique? Fries with that? Wild Tales has it all and then some. It often feels over-the-top in the best sort of way, escalating every scenario to its most absurd and cathartic conclusion. Not a single tale lost my attention for a second or left me disappointed with the direction of its events. It is a well-written film that invites you to watch it simply to revel in the shared experiences of your fellow humans and the ridiculous situations we find ourselves in.
On deeper levels, as well, Szifron’s anthology hits the right notes – presenting his absurd narratives on violence, societal ills, and every person’s eventual breaking point in the perfect fashion to invite reflection from the audience. From the opening story, whose primary actor is never even revealed on-screen, those points to ponder are there, as the audience asks what could drive such an insane act. Over the next five stories, more moments of pause are offered in the midst of the violence and tension, allowing the audience to think on each story’s similarity to situations in their own lives – be it struggles with landlords, toxically violent tendencies (road rage), unfairly designed government systems, wealth inequality, loss of a loved one, and/or struggles in a relationship. Every story has some point of connection to someone in the audience that then brings that person to a point of (usually) violent catharsis, forcing them to reckon with their more animalistic tendencies.
Wild Tales is an aptly named, well-executed anthology that delivers on both entertainment and food for thought, connecting with every type of audience on some level as it earns its place among the greats. Its lack of singular narrative is easily forgiven thanks to the skeletal-level connections of its themes of violence, societal pressures, and human nature that bring it all together. It is currently available to rent on most streaming services if you’re looking for a great watch at some point in the near future.
