Amores Perros
2000 · Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Original language: Spanish
- drama
- thriller
The story
A fatalistic car crash in Mexico city sets off a chain of events in the lives of three people: a supermodel, a young man wanting to run off with his sister-in-law, and a homeless man.
What it’s like
Gritty, handheld and desaturated, with a restless camera that stays close to faces in cramped apartments, rain-slick Mexico City streets and dim, smoky rooms. The color is muddy and warm rather than glossy: browns, dirty yellows and the cold blue of a night bus window. Sound does much of the work, with blaring radios, barking, sirens and a sudden crash of silence before the violence breaks out. Its vibe is raw, fatalistic urban melancholy, the kind that makes a rainy night feel heavier than it should. It moves in three interlocking stories, jumping back and forth in time, so each strand lands with its own dread and grief. The people are trapped by bad choices, money and loyalty, and their arcs bend toward ruin rather than redemption. Intensity is high: brutal, sudden car-crash violence, dog fighting that is genuinely disturbing, graphic injury and a few tense, sexual scenes; it is unsparing and not gentle at all. Made for viewers who want a serious, bruising, mood-heavy drama about cities and fate, and who can handle animal cruelty on screen.
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