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Amores Perros on DVD (2000)

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Average rating: 76%
1111261020610
3.5
from 7,020 members
 
Starring: Emilio Echeverria, Goya Toledo, Alvaro Guerrero, Vanessa Bauche, Jorge Salinas, Laura Almela, Jorge Arellano, Gael Garcia Bernal
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Studio: OPTIMUM RELEASING
Run time: 147 mins
Certificate: 18
User collections: The Revolution Will Be Televised - Or Watched on DVD, My Favourite Films (Ongoing), Gael Garcia Bernal, Must See Foreign Movies..., The List - Foreign Language Favourites, Inspiring stylised films, new and old., my favorites, The Good Stuff, World Cinema Not to be missed, My favourite foreign films
Genres: Drama, World Cinema
Languages: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Released: 24/09/2001

Brief synopsis of Amores Perros

Beginning with a kinetic, bone-crushing car accident, Amores Perros imaginatively interweaves the stories of its three victims: Octavio a young man who has fallen in love with his violent brother's wife; Valeria, a beautiful Mexican model for whom physical appearance is everything; and El Chivo, a former political assassin now exiled from his family. The result is a moving, visceral eulogy to life, loss and dog fighting on Mexico's mean streets. Spanish dialogue.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 5 stars out of 5 Radio Times

With its wealth of hard-bitten characters, intertwining complex plot and nearly three-hour running time, director Alejandro González Iñárritu's internationally acclaimed and multi-award-winning debut feature is bound to invite spurious comparisons to Pulp Fiction. But this absorbing Mexican marvel — one of the highest-grossing Latin American releases of all time — eschews such deliberate Quentin Tarantino-esque quirkiness to emerge as a startling original in its own right. How a fatal car accident impacts on the disparate lives of a slum teenager (Gael Garcia Bernal) involved in illegal dog fights, a magazine editor (Alvaro Guerrero) who leaves his wife for a perfume campaign model and an ex-con tramp-turned-hired assassin (Emilio Echevarría) is expertly fashioned by Iñárritu into a stunning rumination on the traumas and desperation of love and desire. Shot completely with a hand-held camera, and gaining enormous documentary-style immediacy from this in-your-face device, the film is a uniquely twisted romantic tragedy, a truly exhilarating masterpiece with an extraordinary emotional range and hard-hitting power: it's suspenseful, shocking, disturbing and ultimately very moving. Iñárritu's constant cascade of indelible images makes for an incredible film-going experience that lingers in the memory long after the final credits have rolled.

Rating of 3 
	  stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Dazzling, brutal movie of love and death, in which three stories intertwine, all involving dogs, from a pampered pet to a Rottweiler, a vicious champion dogfighter.

Los Angeles Times

"AMORES PERROS is in every way a major work....It is fully realized in all ways, ablaze with a raft of vital portrayals and rich in meaning and implication..."

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 4 starsFloppy Dogs

Rip from Manchester [Highly rated reviewer] , 06/12/2006

If all the dogs in the Disney film about dalmations, had been captured by Cruella De Ville, and made into a fur coat, there would still not be as many dead dogs around as there are in this movie.

This is a movie which captures and keeps your interest, as it traces back the lives of people involved in a road accident.

Each tale is a good story, and the way in which their lives cross over is skillful, thoughtful, and cleverly done.

Each of the stories are good enough to be a movie in their own right.

The only reason I gave ths movie a 4 instead of a 5 is well, to be honest, I'm a little squeamish.

  44 out of 47 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsAction!

Mitchi from London, UK , 08/02/2004

This film wants you attention from the offset and keeps it throughout. The acting is excellent and the storeline wonderful. If you enjoyed 'Reservoir Dogs', you'll like this. You'll want it to go on past the ending but, to be honest, where can it go? I'm not giving away anything on this film. It's good, so just watch it!

  36 out of 37 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsThis is no dog, I love this film

Waterboy Waterboy [Highly rated reviewer] , 05/05/2007

As the worlds of three dog owners literally collide, we see their very different lives unravel in this violent, sexy, stunning film. Brutally beautiful, yet full of sadness, this is a masterpiece that portrays the passion of Mexico across many of the country's economic and social divides. The twists and turns intrigue, rather than confuse. Fans of Tarrantino and The Usual Suspects should love this film. Unless you are scared by subtitles, this is a must see, if you are there is ITV Quizcall.

  35 out of 46 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsDoggone it, it's a masterpiece

klauski from west sussex , 10/07/2004

An astonishing, bravura first work from Mexico, this three-episode movie adopts the structure of "Short Cuts" and "Magnolia" by interweaving apparently unconnected stories.

And what stories! Exploring the different levels of Mexican society, from down-and-out to middle class opulence; exploring the different manifestations of love, from mistress, to sister-in-law to daughter; exploring young hungry lust, middle-aged cradle-snatching and old-age lamentation and regret; and finally exploring the relationship between dogs and their owners.

With hints of "Traffic" in episode one, and a hilarious tribute to the surreal humour of Luis Bunuel in the tragi-comedy of episode two, this distinctive portmanteau movie has all the elements: action, violence, comedy and some deeply moving moments too.

And I don't even like dogs.

A film ultimately about our search for love, and our attempts to find meaning from suffering, this is a minor masterpiece.

  24 out of 25 people found this review helpful
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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 4 starsBernal rises above this brutal yet beautiful film

Darren Oliver from London , 13/09/2004

The more I watch Gael Garcia Bernal, the more I believe he is truly one of the best young actors at present. Amores Perros 'Life's A Bitch' is a fantastically layered film with four individual stories centring on a horrific car crash. All four stories are completed different and all written and acted beautifully. The main story involves Octavio (Bernal) and his infatuation with his abusive brother's wife Susana. Bernal's breakthrough performance shows great depth and brilliant characterisation.

The other stories are equally as powerful. A model who life is ruined by the effects of the crash; and an ex-guerilla's struggle to live with the consequences of abandoning his family 20 years earlier.

The film is gritty and at times brutal, exposing the fraility of human morality and existing in a corrupt world. Yet it is compelling and draws the viewer into the seedy world.

Ultimately unmissable and a great advert for the acting ability of Bernal and direction of Inarritu.

  6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsThis is no dog, I love this film

Waterboy Waterboy [Highly rated reviewer] , 05/05/2007

As the worlds of three dog owners literally collide, we see their very different lives unravel in this violent, sexy, stunning film. Brutally beautiful, yet full of sadness, this is a masterpiece that portrays the passion of Mexico across many of the country's economic and social divides. The twists and turns intrigue, rather than confuse. Fans of Tarrantino and The Usual Suspects should love this film. Unless you are scared by subtitles, this is a must see, if you are there is ITV Quizcall.

  35 out of 46 people found this review helpful
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