457 - Amores Perros, Mexico, 2000. Dir. Alejandro G. Inarritu.

Monday, April 2, 2018

457 - Amores Perros, Mexico, 2000.  Dir. Alejandro G. Inarritu.

Amores Perros.
Bad relationships.

Loves Dogs.
Love has gone to the dogs.
Very bad loves.  Rotten loves.
Really bad relationships.
Love is a b**ch.

One cannot translate amores perros literally in English.  "Loves dogs" does not make sense.  And a female dog in Spanish is el perra and not el perro.

A better translation is "bad relationships."

We are told by Spanish speakers that dogs is used routinely to connote something negative.  For example, "un dia de perros" does not carry its literal meaning, "a day of dogs," but rather the idea of a bad day, as in a day of bad weather.

So, here we have "bad relationships" with the play on "dogs," because this is a movie full of dogs.  Although it is not a bad movie!  Es una pelicula con perros, pero no es una pelicula de perros!

When moviegoers saw Paul Haggis' film Crash in 2004, they were taken by the idea of following the disparate lives of different people all of whom would come together ultimately in a car crash.

When I saw it I immediately thought of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors trilogy from a decade before (1993-94), which begins with a car crash, but which ends with a ferry sinking in a sea storm, where the seven survivors, the stars of the three films, come together in the rescue.

We saw this trilogy last year.

Three Colors: Blue
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/01/017-three-colors-blue-1993-france.html

Three Colors: White
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/01/018-three-colors-white-1994-france-dir.html

Three Colors: Red
http://realbillbillions.blogspot.com/2017/01/019-three-colors-red-1994-france-poland.html

One could also go back to 2000, where with this movie Alejandro G. Inarritu brought the protagonists of three stories together in a car crash.

And by doing so he launched his career as major player in world cinema.

Do you know Inarritu?

You probably do whether you realize it or not.

Here is list in reverse chronology.  The Revenant (2015).  Birdman (2014).  Biutiful (2010).  Babel (2006).  21 Grams (2004).

Now here is a quick look.

Inarritu's most recent movie is a revenge drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio entitled The Revenant (2015).  The one where Leo goes through the Canadian wilderness after surviving a bear mauling, on his way to get back at the man from his own party--John Fitzgerald, played by Tom Hardy--who killed his son and left him for dead.  The Revenant was nominated for 12 Oscars and won 3.  Best Actor, for Leonardo DiCaprio.  Best Director, for Alejandro G. Inarritu.  Best Cinematography, for Emmanuel Lubezki.

It was significant for Lubezki, known as Chivo, in that it was his third consecutive win for Best Cinematography, the only time that has ever happened.

Inarritu's film before The Revenant, and the one which won Chivo his second Best Cinematography Oscar, was Birdman (2014).  The one where Michael Keaton, who once played Batman, plays a man who once played a superhero, who now tries to revive his career by writing and starring on Broadway.  Can you say the whole title?  It is Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).  It was nominated for 9 Oscars and won 4.  Best Picture.  Best Director, for Alejandro G. Inarritu.  Best Cinematography, for Emmanuel Lubezki.  And Best Original Screenplay.

Before that he made Biutiful (2004), starring Javier Bardem.  Nominated for 2 Oscars, for Bardem as Best Actor, and for the film as Best Foreign Film.

You may remember Babel (2006).  Nominated for 7 Oscars.  It won one, for Best Original Score.  That is the one where three stories take place in four locations: Morocco, Japan, United States, and Mexico.  Starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as a married couple on vacation in Morocco.  And an ensemble cast of fine actors from around the world.

And before that was the crime drama 21 Grams, starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benecio Del Toro.

Amores Perros is divided into three parts:  1) Octavio y Susana,  2) Daniel y Valeria, and  3) El Chivo y Maru.

The first section involves two brothers who both love the same girl.  Or at least Octavio loves her.  Ramiro seems to use her for other needs.  But Octavio has a plan for getting her out of a bad relationship.  He will make money with his rottweiler in a few dog fights; he will stash it in a bag in his bedroom; and the two of them will run away together and build a new life where his bad brother cannot get to them.

Octavio fell into these dog fights by accident.  Thanks to Jarocho.  Jarocho won and got cocky.  After he collected his earnings, instead of going home he started to sic his dog on strays that were wandering the streets nearby.  And Octavio's dog.  Who whupped the tar out of him.

Now Octavio enters his dog in fights and wins, wins, wins.  He is going to raise enough money to take Susanna with him this Saturday.

If only Jarocho and Ramiro played fairly.

If only Susana could make up her mind.

Jarocho gets tired of losing so he shoots Octavio's dog mid-fight.  Octavio stabs Jarocho in return.  Now he and his friend are racing through the streets with his shot dog bleeding in the back seat.  And with Jarocho's henchmen chasing after him.  Yes, this causes the car crash.

But Octavio's woes are not over.  Susana has run off with Ramiro.

And with the money.

He lost his dog.  He lost his girl.  He lost his money.  He lost his car.  All in the same day.

If only he were driving a pickup truck it would be a country music song.

No wonder Inarritu transcended the Mexican viewing public and became a smash hit in America.  In addition to being nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film, he should have been nominated for a GMA Award.

Joking aside, this film is gritty and high-adrenaline.  And rooted in what one wonders might be a neighborhood reality for the director.  In the way that Martin Scorsese launched his career with his neighborhood reality in Mean Streets (1973).

The other two stories take different looks at different lives who will be involved in the crash.

Watch out for that mysterious old man named El Chivo.  You see him appear in each of the three stories.

And he may not be all he seems.

He may in fact be more.