Amores perros

Amores perros is an enormous hit back home that is now touring the world triumphantly. In it, González Iñárritu provides us with a topical picture of Mexico City. The film is made up of three storylines interwoven in a way reminiscent of Pulp Fiction which eventually come together in the car crash that opens the film. What the different characters have in common is their love for their dogs. (This occasionally shocking film is however not really suitable for dog lovers who have little faith in trucages). The first story, filmed in a rough and realistic style, is about the young and amiable Octavio, who becomes embroiled in the world of illegal dog-fighting, trying to earn some money to flee his poverty-stricken existence with his crooked brother’s wife. The second part, a macabre satire on middle class living, is shot much more austerely and conventionally and is about a photo model who moves into a luxurious apartment with her married lover. Their happiness is rudely disrupted by the car crash and the disappearance of the model’s spoilt lapdog. In the last part, that has the form of a psychological thriller, we follow an ex-guerrilla fighter who roams the city with his dogs and earns his keep as a hitman. While he prepares for a last job, he seeks to get closer to the daughter he hasn’t seen for years.