Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Amores Perros (2000) or, People - Bad/Dogs

8/02/2013

Amores Perros (2000) or, People - Bad/Dogs - Good

♥♥♥

A simple, gritty poster that conveys the intensity and hype that surrounded Alejandro González Iñárritus Amores Perros

The lives of a bank robber; a girlfriend who steals her brother's money; another brother who earns a living off dog fights; a hysterical model who steals another woman's husband, - plus a hitman and gangsters, - intersect in the bustling Mexico City...

Amores Perros is Mexican master filmmaker Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu's (Babel (2006)) debut feature, and as in his following films, of which great 21 Grams (2003) and masterpiece Babel are the other two films in this his Trilogy of Death, it presents a multi-plotted, non-linear, virtuoso drama, an example of the so-called hyperlink cinema. It is technically impressive, gripping and generally exciting to watch. The title translates to 'love is a bitch'.
But after long reflection upon seeing Amores Perros, I still could only gather from it that dogs are more likeable and sympathetic than people, which I think is a fairly limited insight in context of the large and ambitious endeavor that the film is. I'm sure that this was not the intention, but the characters overall are simply too unsympathetic for our involvement with them to reach any more profound depths.
The film presents a ton of characters and storylines that mesh somewhat superficially. Still, Amores Perros is a very persuasive and successful debut. It is written by Guillermo Arriaga (The Burning Plain (2008)).

Related posts:

Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu: The day after the day after ... the Oscars 2016
The Revenant (2015) - Nature outdoes itself in Iñárritu's showy, solemn macho-spectacle
The day after the day after... The Oscars 2015
Birdman (2014) - Iñárritu's clever, but cold showbusiness dramedy
Biutiful (2010) - Sad globalization stories from Iñárritu
Babel (2006) or, Everyone's Connnected
21 Grams (2003) or, Hardcore Life

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2.4 mil. $
Box office: 20.9 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 8.70 times its cost)
[Amores Perros premiered 14 May (Cannes Film Festival, critics' week section) and runs 153 minutes. Shooting took place in Mexico City from April 1999 - some time in 2000. The dog fight scenes were filmed without harm to the dogs, according to Iñárritu, who, along with crew members, were reportedly robbed on location in a poor part of the city. Amores Perros opened #46 to a 61k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #18 and on 187 screens (different weekends) and grossed 5.4 mil. $ (25.8 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, lost to Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Wo Hu Cang Long (Taiwan). It also won awards from National Board of Review, Independent Spirit Awards, three Cannes awards, 11 Ariel Awards (Mexico's Oscar) out of 15 nominations, and was Golden Globe nominated. It also currently occupies #213 on IMDb's user-generated Top 250 list, sitting between Logan (2017) and Rang De Basanti (2006). Iñárritu returned with Powder Keg (2001, short), September 11 (2002, segment) and theatrically with a feature of his own with 21 Grams (2003). Amores Perros is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Amores Perros?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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8/02/2013

Amores Perros (2000) or, People - Bad/Dogs - Good

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