Relatos Salvajes (2014)

The only problem of "Relatos Salvajes" (aka "Wild Tales") is that it's not a movie. It's six of them. A collection of shorts with a shared theme: revenge. Generally expressed directly, maybe with one exception. But even there the payback urge stays close to come out loud ...

The movie starts with an intro of about 10 minutes. Which is not really the intro. Is the first story in the set (the shortest one). And at the same time can be considered a sort of promo: "buy the rest" of "switch the channel". For me was more than enough to sell what follows. I would even say I liked it most out of the six pieces. And without exaggerating, it competes to the title of "best first 10 minutes of a movie I've ever seen". I won't give any spoiler about it or on what's following. Like I said, the topic is revenge, in plenty of forms and approaches: premeditated, spontaneous, favored by context, direct, indirect, ... I think almost everything is covered. Don't expect though something as complex as "Count of Monte-Cristo". We're talking about 6 shorts. Which, given the differences probably can't please in equal measure the viewer. Probably that's the "big" minus, which is obviously complemented by the plus that you'll enjoy at least one or two of the tales.

What was catchy for me in "Relatos Salvajes" is the wittiness of the script that stays consistent throughout the six pieces. Well ... in some cases you might get what follows from half-time onwards, but the ending is usually quite extreme, and you probably won't be able to anticipate it from the start. Besides that, there's also the genre. You won't be able to say what you're watching, but it's not something bad. Is it a drama or a dark comedy? The alternation is so well integrated that's transparent. And to make it more effective, the script is supplemented consistently by the movie making side. The editing is brilliant, and the sound the same. If you plan to see this, watch closely the re-encounter scene in story no. 3 and also don't miss the "highway soundtrack". It's something like a Tarantino scene there. Or in the last story, check out the storm in the back-end seen from the roof. Maybe all these are elements that might escape the eye, but show how careful is all this put together.

As said in the beginning the only problem is that we don't have one movie here, but six. As light spoiler, I did wait up to the end to be given a connecting line between the stories. I didn't get one. Except the common theme. Which, to reference again "Monte Cristo", doesn't seem in the end to have the same appeal here as in the classic approaches. You don't really get to feel very empathic with a character. Probably because every story serves also as cold dish the negative effect of a payback attempt. Or, somehow between the lines, the movie tries to tell you that in real life revenge is not an option :) ...
Rating: 4 out of 5