IMDb Top 250 Journey: Wild Tales

Hello people, It's Friday, which means we are moving up another spot on IMDb's Top 250 List. This week, we're on to Wild Tales, from Argentinian director Damian Szifron, which sits at #199 on the list and has a score of 8.1.

Immediate thoughts?

Outrageous. Disturbingly Hilarious.

Go on...

I've watched a lot of movies which are supposed to be black comedies or satires, but they never made me laugh, until I saw Wild Tales. The title is no fluke people; This movie consists of six hilariously wild stories which I guarantee you won't soon forget.

It's well known that we love stories, the more extreme they get, the better, and Wild Tales plays perfectly to this tune. Perfectly. It's the equivalent of sitting down in front of a storyteller and listening to him deliver his most bizarre tales - That's a testament to how good Wild Tales is.

The first story sets the tone for the rest of the movie, acting as a way to cue you in on what kind of stories are going to be told. Then the second extends this further, after which the third story just flat out runs with the whole concept and turns the what-the-hell factor all the way up.  And fittingly, it's the third story that had me laughing; I'll bet that's the one which sticks with you too. However, the third story is not so good that the last two feel disappointing, which is usually an issue in this kind of movie. Credit to Szifron on that one. He ordered the stories perfectly, so while some may stick with you more than the others, you don't spend time thinking about the ones you liked, but the collection as a whole.
 
Wild Tales is however not without fault. If you do not find black comedy entertaining, you may be at a loss. There was also one particularly (unnecessarily?) disturbing scene that could sour the entire movie for you. Not to mention this is a dark movie; it really doesn't put forward humanities greatest strengths. So why did I laugh you may be thinking. Well, Bill Watterson said why best, using his Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.

"Isn’t it strange that evolution would give us a sense of humor? When you think about it, it’s weird that we have a physiological response to absurdity. We laugh at nonsense. We like it. We think it’s funny. Don’t you think it’s odd that we appreciate absurdity? Why would we develop that way? How does it benefit us?" - Calvin.

"I suppose if we couldn’t laugh at things that don’t make sense, we couldn’t react to a lot of life." - Hobbes

Yep, there truly is no other way to react to the events that unfold in Wild Tales, than to laugh.

 

But was it well-made?

The craft in this movie is the kind which is meant to fit so perfectly into the movie that you concentrate on nothing but the story. In other words, everything is secondary to the story, and that, believe it or not, is more difficult to achieve. But the crew on Wild Tales managed to pull it off brilliantly; cinematography, sounds, acting - they are all done so well that you don't even notice them. Wild Tales is most certainly an impressive piece of film-making, one that should give hope to aspiring film-makers all over, especially considering that it's not from Hollywood. 

Final thoughts?

No one likes to step out of their comfort zone, me included, and because Wild Tales was in a different language and from a different country, it felt like more of a chore than a joy - I mean, I'd have hated to disappoint you my lovely readers. In the end though, Wild Tales is the best reason I've found so far for IMDb's Top 250 to exist. It's a lesser known movie that wouldn't ordinarily have reached your attention, but thanks to the list, it has, and boy does it deserve to be seen.

My Score: 9+ 

Seriously though, you should see Wild Tales. I'm looking forward to your thoughts. Next week was supposed to be X-Men Days Of Future Past, but it sits at #246, and that portion of the list is very susceptible to change, so I've decided to skip it. In any case I have seen it, and I thought it was massively overrated. First Class was a much better X-Men movie. So next week we're moving on to The Grand Budapest Hotel instead. Should be good.