The Argentine-Spanish comedy “Wild Stories” was released in 2014. She immediately became the center of attention of critics and spectators, as they could not miss the explosive mixture of comedy and drama with a deep philosophical implication. Many saw themselves in his heroes and realized that sometimes a normal person can be separated from the criminal only one step. The film "Wild Stories", whose actors are mainly of Spanish or Argentine origin, is worth watching for lovers of the work of Pedro Almodovar, and our article will tell you what relation he has to this picture.
"Parsnip"
Catwalk model Isabelle (Maria Marul) and music critic Salgado (Dario Grandinetti) meet on the plane. They discover that they have a common acquaintance, Gabriel Pasternak. Later it turns out that all the other passengers and even crew members are somehow connected with this person. Moreover, all of them, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, insulted and humiliated him.
Performer of the main male role in this episode - Dario Grandinetti - starred in other paintings by Almodovar. He is the winner of the Havana Film Festival, as well as the Emmy, which he received for his work on television.
"Rats"
The second episode of the film "Wild Stories", the actors of which are mostly unfamiliar to the Russian audience, begins with the fact that the young waitress (Juliette Zilberberg) recognizes the person who looked into the roadside restaurant as the mafia Rafael Cuenca (Caesar Bordon). Many years ago, this man ruined her father and became the cause of his suicide. After Cuenca began to molest the mother of the girl, the women had to flee their hometown. From a randomly overheard conversation, it becomes clear that Cuenca’s affairs are going uphill and he is running for mayor.
When the cook of the establishment (Rita Cortese) learns this story, she offers the waitress to mix rat poison in the food of the mafia boss, but the girl refuses in horror. Then an elderly woman with a rich prison past herself decides to carry out her plan and restore justice.
The strongest
The film "Wild Stories", whose actors brilliantly coped with the tasks assigned to them by Pedro Almodovar, also has an episode dedicated to "road wars". The main roles in it went to Leonardo Sbarralie and Walter Donado. The hero of the first of them - the handsome Diego Iturralde - is very proud of his new powerful Audi. While racing on a deserted highway, he notices an old Peugeot, which is driven by a resident of the nearby town of Mario (Walter Donado). Diego is sincerely outraged, because the driver of the "wrecked" does not want to give way to him. Having worked hard to overtake Peugeot, he furiously verbally insults his companion and shows him an indecent gesture. However, his glee does not last long, because after a few kilometers a wheel goes down on Diego's car. Here the driver of Peugeot catches up with the offender.
Leonardo Sbaralya - one of the few members of the cast of the film "Wild Stories", which are known outside the Spanish-speaking countries. During his career, he starred in more than 30 films and television series, and also received many prestigious awards.
The Little Bomb
In this episode of Wild Stories, the actors and roles are best matched to each other. "The Little Bomb" tells of an explosive engineer Simon Fisher (Ricardo Darin). Once, in a good mood, he leaves a cake for his daughter from a pastry shop and discovers that his Chevrolet was evacuated for parking in the wrong place. Simon goes to a private evacuation company and tries to explain that he left his car in an area where there was no road marking that would prohibit parking. Most likely, it was erased, so the company can not charge him for a tow truck and demand the payment of fines. However, the employee does not want to listen to the client and demands not to delay those standing in line.
The hassle associated with returning the car is delayed, so Fisher not only does not have time to help his wife (Nancy Duplaa) prepare the holiday for Camilla's daughter's birthday, but also does not appear at the celebration. As a result, Simon has problems with his family.
A few days later, the story of the evacuation of a Fisher car by employees of the same company is repeated. As a result, his nerves are losing, and he is organizing a pogrom in her office. Information about the incident goes to the media. Fisher is being arrested, but his lawyer, hired by Simon's employer, helps him free himself. However, the troubles do not end there: Fisher’s wife files for a divorce, and the management of the company in which he worked decides to get rid of the employee so as not to lose profitable government contracts. Desperate Simon decides to implement a cruel plan of revenge.
Ricardo Darin, who played the role of the unfortunate father of the family who became a lone terrorist, is an honorary citizen of Buenos Aires, as well as a laureate and nominee of many film awards. At the same time, he is considered a good writer and has repeatedly acted as a screenwriter for various television projects.
"Sentence"
The offspring of wealthy parents of Santiago, returning in the morning from the night bar in his father’s new car, knocks down a pregnant woman. He is hiding from the scene, not even making an attempt to help the victim. His dad, a high-ranking official from Mauricio Pereira Hamilton (Oscar Martinez), finds out that the downed woman died on the way to the hospital. He decides to "smear" his beloved child from prison. Mauricio turns to a family lawyer, and together they come up with a plan. For its implementation, they require the consent of the gardener Jose Torres, who, for a large fee, is invited to take the blame for the accident.
"Until the death tear us apart"
Wild Stories (film) ends with the story of the wedding of Romina (Erica Rivas) and Ariel (Diego Gentile). Young people seem quite happy until the girl finds out that her beloved cheated on her with a colleague named Lourdes. Moreover, it turned out that the groom invited her to the wedding. The deceived Romina decides to punish the newly-made spouse right at the wedding.
Film crew
The film "Wild Stories" (a summary of the episodes you already know) was directed by Damian Shifron. He himself was born in Argentina and has a rather modest filmography, in which there are less than a dozen paintings, most of which are short, and two television series. Despite this, he was nominated for such prestigious film awards as Goya and Oscar, and both times for the film Wild Stories. The actors who starred in this film are mostly not stars, even on a Spanish or Argentinean scale. In this sense, Chifron follows in the footsteps of Pedro Almodovar. This master of Spanish cinema, who is the director of many interesting films that have glorified him far beyond the borders of his country, prefers to discover new acting talents and invites mostly debutants to his films. By the way, many do not know that the producer of the film "Wild Stories" is Pedro Almodovar. However, lovers of his work in some scenes accurately recognize the influence of the famous Spaniard.
Wild Stories: Reviews
The film received mostly positive reviews from film critics. In particular, on the Rotten Tomatoes website, where a total of 137 reviews were posted, its rating was 95%. In addition, on the Metacritic website, the film received 77 points out of 100 based on reviews from 73 critics.
As for ordinary Russian viewers, judging by the reviews, most of them liked the picture, although many believe that everything is excessively exaggerated and gloomy. As an epigraph for the film, some moviegoers suggest choosing the phrase "Do not wake the beast in me." Among viewers who watched “Wild Stories”, there is also an opinion that the film is very instructive and makes you think that you can not treat others with disdain, no matter how defenseless they may seem at first glance.
Now you know the content of the most famous painting by Damian Shifron at the moment. As you can see, each episode has its own interesting plot. So if you want to watch something from the category “Best Movies”, “Wild Stories” this weekend, this is exactly what you need.