In this striking new Mexican movie, one character offers up the aphorism “to make God laugh, tell him your plans”. The film, whose title translates roughly as ‘Love is a Bitch’, brings out the elemental quality of life with a comprehensiveness and reach, so that Mexico City itself becomes a seething central character, the source of passion and a million miseries. It is structured as a time-shifting triptych of overlapping dramas and the effect is of a dizzying reality. The movie opens with a furious car chase and crash, which serves as the focal point for the three narratives that follow. The association of people with their dogs takes on a mystical specialness in ‘Amores Perros’. The curs, toys and strays are like emissaries of human folly. They suffer their lives in sympathy with their masters, whose own lives are full of uncontrollable suffering. The gallery of faces in this film is extraordinary, the shape of the drama itself, in all its tragic aspects. Without being explicit about it, Inarritu has fashioned an intensely moral fable, where lessons and epiphanies resound. Though bleak, the film is never nihilistic – it has an abiding faith in penance and retribution.
Peter Rainer – New York Magazine - 2000
The most populous sprawl on earth proves a vivid barometer for the state of 21st century civilisation in this feverish Mexico City triptych. This Rottweiler of a movie slams street level toughs up against high society celebrity and then picks up the carnage. In the first story, lovelorn Octavio (Garcia) turns to dogfighting to scrape enough money to steal his brother’s wife. In the second, a magazine editor leaves his family for beautiful model Valeria, just as an accident lands her in a wheelchair. The final story centres on an ex-Communist revolutionary (Echevarria) who prefers the companionship of mutts to people. Recalling ‘Resevoir Dogs’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’ but edgier than both, this is a tremendous first film. For all its bone-crunching savagery, it’s a fundamentally moral work.
Time Out - 2000
What is F-Rated?
The F-Rating is applied to all films which are:
- Directed by women
- Written by women
- Has one or more significant women on screen
If it qualifies with one of the above it gets the Bronze rating.
If it qualifies with two of the above it gets the Silver rating.
If it qualifies with all three of the above it gets the Gold rating.