‘Wild Tales’ delights critics at Cannes
Print Edition
“WILD Tales,” a black comedy from Argentina produced by art-house superstar Pedro Almodovar, delighted critics at Cannes yesterday with an uproarious take on the thin line between civilization and savagery.
One of 18 contenders in competition at the world’s biggest film festival, the movie by 38-year-old Damian Szifron plays out in six absurdly violent episodes.
It starts off with a striking brunette making her way onto a plane, where she takes her seat next to a distinguished music critic who soon chats her up.
In conversation they realize they know the same man, her ex Gabriel Pasternak, whom the critic gave a career-killing review for a composition years before.
It is soon revealed that all the passengers on the flight had wronged Pasternak at some stage in their lives, and received their plane tickets under mysterious circumstances.
And guess who has locked himself in the cockpit, aiming the jet at his parents’ home.
The scene ahead of the opening credits sparked spontaneous applause from the crowd during a press preview, settling the tone for a rollicking two hours of similar, unconnected vignettes.
A cheating lover, a corrupt towing company, a brute overcome by road rage and a parasitic loan shark get their comeuppance in a bitingly funny satire that marked a welcome break from the dramas that make up much of the Cannes program.
But the film also serves up powerful portrayals of mad-as-hell people pushed to the breaking point by corruption, injustice and inequality, leading them to abandon social niceties and finally explode.
Szifron said he thought the themes of frustrated people trying to keep it together carried far beyond Argentines’ particular problems.
“You can see all these people who work in offices ... (who) suffer from tremendous pressure.”
The Palme d’Or will be awarded on Saturday.
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