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Wild Tales contains six stories about people whose lives really haven’t gone the way they planned, leading to a lot of it going downhill. There’s a lot that rings true in this film, as you wonder what went wrong in the first place to get into this situation, and how can it be put right? In addition, the scenes don’t always pan out in the way you’d expect and when this is the case, it’s such a refreshing change to find a film to be so enjoyable.
The segments include ‘Pasternak’, where strangers Isabel (María Marull), a model, and Salgado (Darío Grandinetti), a music critic, meet on a plane and find they have more in common than they think; ‘The Rats’, where waitress Moza (Julieta Zylberberg) meets up with Cuenca (César Bordón), a man who once ruined her family; ‘Road To Hell’, a tale about road rage which is as perfect as you can get; and ‘Bombita’, which translates as “dynamite” and is about explosives expert Simón (Ricardo Darín).
Throw in the love theme from Flashdance, of all things, and I won’t detail what happens in each scene beyond some basics listed because it’s like a road movie that you’ll want to discover by yourself. I will say, however, that the shorter films are better because they’re more punchy, and don’t drift on at all. The stories get longer as the film goes on, but the last one was the least satisfying for me as it was the only one not to come to a satisfactory conclusion in my eyes.
Writer/director Damián Szifron is a man whose work I’ve not come across before, but with some clever filming techniques, which seem simple when you think about it, such as a camera being attached to a security, filming the view as it is opened, I’m intrigued to look into more of his work.
There’s also a strange effect on the audio, like metal scraping during simple moments like a bag being stowed in a plane’s overhead compartment or a waitress walking through a beaded door. Not sure what all that’s about.
The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition and perfectly shows off the amazing scenery, as previously described. I’m watching this on a 50″ Panasonic Plasma TV. However, since the film was shot in 4K, it’d be a treat to see it in that format.
The audio is in DTS HD 5.1, but as you’d expect, there’s not going to be any split-surround action here, but the score, also as previously described, is a delight and there’s atmosphere in buckets, here.
The extras are as follows, but are sadly quite brief:
- Interview with director (6:01): Damián Szifron is interviewed by Patricia Pérez and goes into detail about many aspects, including getting the right cast together and how many of the stories were shot with a different filming process, and covers a lot of ground with this because he talks so damn fast! 🙂
- Wild Takes: The Making Of Wild Tales (24:56): Not just Damián Szifron, but producers Hugo Sigman, Agustín Almodóvar, Esther García and the one and only Pedro Almodóvar, all talking about what made the film special for them and why they just had to make it.
And then we get to the cast, featuring key members including Darío Grandinetti, Rita Cortese, Ricardo Darín, Oscar Martínez and Julieta Zylberberg.
- Trailer (1:49): In the original 2.35:1 theatrical ratio.
Subtitles are in English, and even though this release is intended for the UK market, a lot of people do want to know whether or not the subtitles are turnoffable, so they can watch the film in its original language, untainted by subtitles. And here, yes, you can. They’re also optional during the extras.
Chapters are a bog-standard 12. I feel one should come every five minutes on average. A lot of distributors go for a low 12 however long the film. Artificial Eye’s chaptering tends to vary from disc to disc. Unfortunately, here, it’s just the same old 12, even for a film running 122 minutes.
The menu mixes clips from the film with a piece of the main theme, yet dominated by a still of Erica Rivas, as bride Romina, from the final segment.
Wild Tales is out now on Blu-ray and DVD, and click on the packshot for the larger version.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
8 10 8 2 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 122 minutes
Year: 2014
Released: June 15th 2015
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: Spanish
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.35:1 (filming process varies throughout the film)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Damián Szifron
Producers: Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar, Esther García, Matías Mosteirín and Hugo Sigman
Screenplay: Damián Szifron
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
Cast:
Salgado: Darío Grandinetti
Isabel: María Marull
Profesora Leguizamón: Mónica Villa
Cocinera: Rita Cortese
Moza: Julieta Zylberberg
Cuenca: César Bordón
Diego: Leonardo Sbaraglia
Mario: Walter Donado
Simón: Ricardo Darín
Victoria: Nancy Dupláa
Mauricio: Oscar Martínez
Helena: María Onetto
Lawyer: Osmar Núñez
Casero: Germán de Silva
Romina: Erica Rivas
Ariel: Diego Gentile
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.