Don't worry if you don't see this picture, you are going to live it anyway.
This movie tells three tales of people and how their relationship to dogs is symbollic of their own situations, all connected by the single tragic event of an automobile accident.
First there is Octavio (Gaël García Bernal), who puts his dog in dog fights to earn enough money that he can run away with his lover, Susana (Vanessa Bauche), who is pregnant and the wife of his brother, Ramiro (Adriana Barraza). Then, there is the rich couple of supermodel Valeria Maya (Goya Toledo) and Daniel (Álvaro Guerrero) whose feelings of being trapped after a car accident is echoed by an incident when their dog becomes trapped as well. Finally, there is an ex-guerrilla, El Chico (Emilio Echevarría), whose discovery of a lost dog inspires him to reunite with his own long-lost daughter.
Agent Felipe Mejia
A well made and well told film, with a not necessarily brilliant but well structured and coherent screenplay.
Amores perros is an ironic, realistic and human film which explores the destructive, darker side of human relationships and its detriment to society through three intertwined stories, a common construction in Mexican cinema.
However, this Mexican movie has lost some of its identity by trying too hard to fit the Hollywood model - think Pulp fiction - at times the performances lack strength, like the exaggerated Daniel's hysteria attacks and El Chico's heavy handed moralising about the story of the two brother-partners; they undercut much of what Amores perros has tried to say and be.
On the other hand, the main purpose of the film is to show a hard and cruel Latin-American reality without the glossiness of a thirty second news bite. It certainly achieves this with a solid screenplay, well-defined characters and impeccable presentation from the cinematography and the soundtrack. All these features make Amores perros a film that leaves you thinking about those most human and social aspects: ambition, fidelity and beauty.
MA 15+ (Medium level violence, adult themes)
153 minutes (2:33 hours)
Film: 12 April 2001