Wild Tales

This Best Foreign Picture nominee from Argentina is comprised of six imaginative stories that dramatize the uncivilized impulses that seethe beneath the veneer of civilized life. Director and writer Damián Szifrón fills his tangy tales with lethal ironies and jarring twists of fate that build with relentless momentum to resolutions that somehow manage to be both horrid and comical. Each yarn takes place in a distinct setting and proffers a visual style that befits its particularly sorry vision of humanity.

Before the credits even roll Szifrón gives us a taste of the madness to come. “Pasternak” is set aboard a passenger plane on which a group of passengers discover a secret that sends a chill though the audience. The mini-tale begins at a slow suspenseful burn and ends on a final dazzling shot that freezes the frame. After viewers are no doubt left shaken, the credits roll and the film begins again. READ MORE