“I am so freaking excited for Birdman this weekend. Now even though I know that the style is a departure from him (besides an article or two confirming it, the trailer tells me as much), I figured it might be a good idea to familiarize myself with director Alejandro González Iñárritu. I’ve seen Babel and Biutiful, and must have had 21 Grams on in the background once (I own the DVD but I couldn’t tell you anything that happened). While out shopping during last week’s vacation, I found a Barnes and Noble and it had a $4.99 DVD section. I picked up Amores Perros, and opted to watch it today.
The (rather lengthy) movie circles around 3 storylines. The stories are connected by a car crash, joining the fates of the characters. The vignettes are told separately, not intertwined a la Crash or Magnolia. And they all involve dogs.
My strongest impression is that as an animal lover, this is a very tough movie to watch. There are dog fights and other perilous puppy positions. It’s a little upsetting, as I keep grabbing for my cat who has decided to nap thru this next to me.
I was most into the first story, about Octavio. He gets involved in dogfighting in an attempt to make enough money to run away with his brother’s mistreated wife. The next story, about Valeria recovering from the car accident and losing her dog in a hole in the floor of her apartment was interesting, even if not much was going on. By the time we finally reached El Chivo’s story, I’d pretty much checked out.
At least this is one I can finally cross off the list. I don’t know that I paid enough attention to get a bead on Iñárritu, but I’m still pretty sure that all bets will be off for Birdman.