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Writer's pictureJames Rutherford

'Wild Tales': A Spanish-Language Anthology of Darkly Comical Tales of Human Behavior


Movie poster for Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes) (2014)

Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes) (2014) is a blistering Spanish-language dark comedy from Argentina delivered as an anthology of six individual stories of human behavior. Designed to shock and outrage the viewing audience, it's an eye-opening compilation of satirical escapades fashioned as unique social commentary.


The film's opening segment "Pasternak" depicts the passengers on an commercial airline flight coming to realize that they share an ominous connection, while "Las Ratas" finds a young waitress (Julieta Zylberberg) face-to-face with the man who destroyed her family. In "El Más Fuerte", a dangerous backroads duel between Diego (Leonardo Sbaraglia) and Mario (Walter Donado) leads to dire consequence, followed by the tale of a demolition expert (Ricardo Darín) bedeviled by absurd civil bureaucracy in "Bombita". The penultimate "La Propuesta" is a volatile depiction of the fallout from a deadly hit-and-run, while the concluding segment "Hasta Que La Muerte Nos Separe" is a scathing portraiture of matrimonial dysfunction.


Written and directed by Argentinian filmmaker Damián Szifron, each of the stories is delivered with its own particular cinematic stylings—creating a robust mosaic of transgression and impropriety. Darín highlights a remarkable ensemble, drawn together by Szifron to deliver a one-of-a-kind viewing experience: a resounding indictment of modern society abetted by black humor and an unapologetic dose of sheer absurdism.

 

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