Movie Review - Wild Tales

Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes) (2014)

Starring Ricardo Darín, Oscar Martínez, Lednardo Sbaragalia, Érica Rivas, Rita Cortese, Julieta Zylberberg, and Darío Grandinetti

Directed by Damián Szifron

The concept of a group of cinematic short stories that share no connections with one another making up a feature film is something that doesn't happen very often.  That's the case, however, with Wild Tales, a flick written and directed by Damián Szifron which tells six short stories -- all varying in length -- about people in stressful situations and how they deal with the conflicts they are encountering.

Quite frankly, the less said about Wild Tales, the better.  Going into this anthology piece without knowing too much allows the comedy and drama of the stories to unfold naturally.  I found myself laughing out loud at some points and shrinking uncomfortably in my seat at others.  Szifron has an apparent gift for dark humor, yet surprisingly has a keen sense for ringing out the drama as well -- not only via his script, but also in his direction.  This is as well a directed piece as I've seen all year which is all the more shocking seeing as how Szifron hasn't helmed a film in more than a decade.  Considering the anthology nature here, the viewer is bound to be more intrigued by some pieces than others, yet Szifron keeps everything moving at a great clip so that we never tire of a segment before its time is up.

While certainly some pieces work a but better than others, I found Wild Tales as a whole to be wildly inventive and absurdly humorous.  Bookended by two of the funniest scenes I've watched all year, this flick is one of those reasons I hold off doing my RyMickey Awards until September each year.  A great piece of work that I highly recommend.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+