Mexican Dog Tales -- Amores Perros
man. We see snatches of him throughout the movie, and I found his story the most unique and satisfying. El Chivo (Emilio Echevarria) establishes himself as the most eccentric and unique of all the characters. He has a relationship story, hinted at by his apparent obsession with a young girl that unfolds as he prepares his last hit that becomes hugely intertwined with Octavio's killer rottweiler (Jeopardy question to this answer: "What has four legs and an arm?") Hired by a businessman to kill his partner (and half-brother), El Chivo comes up with a most creative method of dealing with the hit.
As interesting as I found the middle aged hit man, I wish that the director had spent more time developing his story, or at most connecting Octavio's story with it, leaving out the innocuous super model story. Amores Perros was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and even received a slight buzz for a possible upset over the superior Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. That underground word of mouth must have come from a few young MTV watchers, who seem to become mesmerized at any high velocity imagery they see.
Alejandro González Iñárritu establishes his keen visual eye and that he can mix surrealistic images over realistic scenes with the best film technicians, and that he can allow passions to erupt from the screen. Now if Iñárritu could imitate the lyrical beauty and pace of Like Water Like Chocolate to develop his characters more, and if he could control his frenzied camerawork more like Scorsese does in his best work, we can hail the coming of a Mexican filmmaker who will stand among the greats. Of course, juxtaposing all the elements presented here effectively would take the genius of Hitchcock. But overall, Amores Perros ranks as an impressive film debut, and I'll look forward to seeing what direction Iñárritu takes.
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