Dir: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Cast: Emilio Echevarria, Gael Garcia Bernal
If you're in a happy mood and you see that a movie made by Alejandro González Iñárritu is playing at a local theater, a movie channel, or on instant netflix... steer clear from it. It will depress you. Alejandro González Iñárritu, a mouthful of a name first of all, made his debut in cinema in 2000 with Amores Perros and it was the first of his death trilogy; three movies that deal with accidents, death, and the effect that tragedies has on people. Amores Perros remains, by far, the most powerful and touching film on said subject and you just may cry during or after this movie, but don't say I didn't warn you.
Amores Perros is told in three stories: there's the story of Octavio and Susana, Susana is the sister-in-law of Octavio but Octavio is in love with her. He doesn't like the way his brother Ramiro treats her and he wants her to run away with him and start a new life together. Then there's Daniel and Valeria: Daniel is a rich, successful magazine publisher and Valeria is his hot supermodel girlfriend. They wind up living together and all appears to be well until Valeria's leg is severely broken which may cause her to never model again. Then there's the last segment which tells the story of hitman El Chivo, a haggard-looking man who pushes a cart through the streets and takes care of a lot of dogs. He has been trying to contact his estranged daughter for quite some time now. He has been hired by a businessman to kill his partner, but an accident occurs that interrupts him.
That accident involves three central characters to this movie: Octavio, Valeria, and El Chivo. The accident significantly impacts these characters who all have different backgrounds and wealth statuses. These characters aren't just connected because of the accident but also because of the dark lives they live and the secrets they withhold from people. The movie quite seamlessly moves from one segment to the other which each one becoming more emotional and heartbreaking than the next. By the time you get to the end of the last story, you have just gone through a 2 1/2 hour epic that affects you deeply. Amores Perros sticks with you. You live inside this movie because the characters are so wonderfully written and Alejandro González Iñárritu makes you care about all of them despite how dark and despicable their actions may be.
There's no doubt about Alejandro González Iñárritu's talent while watching this film. It has an appealing, grainy look that kinda reminds me of the Mexico scenes in Traffic. I'm sure Mexico looks a lot brighter and prettier in real life, but according to Soderbergh and Alejandro González Iñárritu, it doesn't.
There aren't many crazy tricks to this film. It was the first film that showed just how much talent there is in Mexican cinema and it's still the best of the bunch. Amores Perros just happens to be perfectly executed in every way, easily making it one of the best films of the 2000s.
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