I’ve wanted to see it for a while, and finally got around to it. I’d say that it’s one of the best movies that I’ve ever seen.
I just wanted to get an idea of what other people thought of it, and any non-obvious insights that they picked up on.
For me, what struck me was that while there were protagonists and antagonists in the movie, no one was “all good”. Everyone (and every dog) did something “wrong”, or what others may call “evil”.
And as ugly as the setting was, it was a perfect world. In that, I mean that every one paid for their sins in the movie. Either emotionally or physically, they felt pain that was more or less proportional to the wrongs that they did. So no one had to worry about someone saying “You’ll pay for that in hell.” It all happened right there in Mexico City.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen it, so I can’t be so precise with my criticism, but I didn’t like it. It just seemed to be mostly concerned with setting a new landmark for on-screen violence and brutality, for no real valid purpose I could see. The whole gist of it just seemed to be “life is violent and sordid and cheap and the only hope of redemption can come when you’ve lost absolutely everything worldly you’d ever loved.” Which doesn’t strike me as hugely creative or original.
I thought the three storylines were quite engaging, and the subtle ways in which they were tied together were clever.
I don’t think I’ll watch it again, though, only because it was too pessimistic for my taste (the very end of “Daniel y Valeria” - where she looks out the window to see that the ad featuring her old, pre-accident self has been taken down, just about broke my heart).
Think it was called “Love’s a bitch” in english. Great directing. To depressing for my taste. Certainly one of the best Mexico in mexican cinema lately.
I own the DVD (well, someone left it at my place and they’ve forgotten about it :D), so I’ve watched it a couple of times. I thought it had strong acting and directing and the story was great, plus I enjoy watching Gael García Bernal, he’s a real talent. It’s a depressing, violent, tragic yet powerful movie. I enjoyed it because it pushes our buttons (dogfight scenes) and plays with our emotions right the way through the movie.
I liked it, too. I think the violence/brutality aspect of it is overrated, though. I’ve seen many more violent and brutal movies. From memory, the only gruesome parts were the car wreck and I guess the dog fights, and neither was too offensive to me. (Well, the dog fights were kind of shocking at first, just because I’ve never seen that so realistically portrayed.)
I saw it on TV recently and liked it enough to see it again on a big screen when it does another round at the repertory cinema. The violence doesn’t bother me, especially when it’s not cartoonish Hollywood-type violence. Dog fights happen, poverty happens, car crashes happen, not just in Mexico either. As for depressing, it was uplifting as well, pretty far from bad teenage poetry anyway. And Emilio Echevarría sure cleans up nice. Great movie.
I thought it was two-thirds of a masterpiece. The first third and the last third are brilliant. The bit with the woman in the apartment in the middle, that was good, but it didn’t quite rise to the heights of the bookends.
For what it’s worth, the director of Amores Perros did what is generally reputed to be the strongest of the chapters of that September 11 anthology 11’ 9" 01, and his newest film, 21 Grams, is also supposed to be pretty darn good. This is a guy to keep an eye on, certainly.
A second to Cervaise’s “two-thirds of a masterpiece.”
Although I might want to make it 1/3 masterpiece and 2/3 just ok movie. For me neither the model storyline or the homeless guy storyline really could stand up to the first. I thought it was forty minutes of the best film-making you’ll ever see. It’s too bad the director couldn’t have made the whole movie around that storyline.
I really like the director but I read some interview with him where he spouts off about how America sucks so I wouldn’t hold me breath for his 9/11 documentary.
C’mon, a guy leaves his long time faithful and obedient wife and adolescent daughters to shack up with a young, beautiful model. He takes extraordinary measures to secure a perfect apartment for both of them (and her dog too). And on the first day of moving in, she gets into a car accident that at first simply turns her into a bitch, and then causes her to lose her leg. All those years, he was “stuck” with his wife, he had to sneak around. And as soon as he was liberated to pursue a relationship with the woman of his dreams, it all falls apart. And now he’s once again “stuck”. He can’t leave the new woman. It would ruin his career. He’s stuck with her. And she can’t leave him. Who else would want her, especially when her legs were her only redeeming quality? What seemed to be a liberation for the man, is now a torture chamber for life. Now that’s great storytelling! Talk about payback and karma!