A spanish film from 2000, with numerous awards in indepenent bodies such as Sundance, Amores Perros is a film that should get higher recognition than it has.

This film is about 3 different lifes which are dramatically changed by one car accident. The film plays in a 'Tarantino' structure whereby pieces of information are not understood until the full film has been seen and you have managed to put the pices back together again. This is seen for all three of the lives that are followed, and while it seems the idea is infuriating, it actually works really well.

The content is powerful stuff, and any animal lovers, especially dogs, are advised to steer well clear of the first third of the movie, as there is some pretty graphic stuff in there... I bet PETA was pissed. It is also pretty violent, but most feels justified. The performances are powerful even though it is translated (I'm not sure if it's available dubbed, my dvd only has subtitles). The content should and does appear to be depressing in parts, but when you have finished watching the film you do get a sense of satisfaction.

Alejandro González Iñárritu (IMDB ) the director of this film also made 2003's 21 grams. If you liked that film then Amores Perros is definately reccomended as it is seen by fans to be the superior of the two.

9?10

It's a horrible film, I could barely watch it.

If you think 'Requiem for a Dream' is depressing, try watching a dog trapped under floorboards.

I thought it was excellent. I did think it was a bit odd though that there was so much controversy about the plight of dogs in the film when most of the human characters in it ended up worse off. That's this country for you though, I guess.

I quite liked Amores Perros.

I agree that the film has certain similarities with Pulp Fiction, but by all accounts, these similarities are largely coincidental - I attended a screening of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada last week, written by the same author (Guillermo Arriagas), and he made great pains to explain how the narrative of the films was how he had written them, and "Tarrantino was NOT an influence. No Tarrantino. None." (OK, Guillermo, we get the point). I would consider a more similar film to this is Chan Wook Park's Chungking Express. Both have what is called an "experimental narrative", concentrating on theme and style, rather than a single story structure. The themes in Amores Perros are somewhat darker, and the fragmented narrative works pretty well.

when you say "chan wook park", you mean 'wong kar wai'?

and i'd say that the narrative style has very little, if no connection. 'amores perros' has a fragmented timeline that structures it's narrative in a way that slowly reveals an overall picture of the events and characters, often making you re-assess what you have already seen.

on the other hand, 'chunking express' tells two stories; which may appear unconnected, but both explore the formation of relationships in a world where people are becoming more distant from each other...