Wild Tales () is a 2014 satirical absurdist dark comedy anthology film, written and directed by the Argentine filmmaker Damián Szifron. The film, which is an Argentine-Spanish co-production, is composed of six standalone shorts with a common theme of catharsis, violence and vengeance. The film has an ensemble cast consisting of Ricardo Darín, Oscar Martínez, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Érica Rivas, Rita Cortese, Julieta Zylberberg, and Darío Grandinetti. Because of Szifron's desire to work with Darín and Martínez, these actors were allowed to choose the role they wanted.
Four of the film's stories were partly based on Szifron's real-life experiences and were all planned either as thrillers or dramas. Wild Tales was co-produced by three Argentine studios, and Agustín's and Pedro Almodóvar's Spanish company El Deseo. The brothers joined Kramer & Sigman Films, Telefe Productions and Corner Contenidos after seeing Szifron's previous film On Probation (2005). Wild Tales was filmed in Argentina between April and May 2013, and cost US$3.3–4.5 million—70% of which came from Argentina and 30% from Spain.
The film received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for being a good example of an engaging anthology film, for its cast (mainly Rivas), humour, cinematography, and music. It won many accolades, including eight of ten Platino Awards, the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and the Goya Award for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, and for the Palme d'Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Wild Tales is the most-seen Argentine film of all time and was a box-office record-holder in Argentina, grossing US$11.7–21.1 million there for a total of $30.6–44.1 million worldwide.
Plot Wild Tales is composed of six short segments: "Pasternak", "Las ratas" ("The Rats"), "El más fuerte" ("Road to Hell", ), "Bombita" (), "La propuesta" ("The Bill", ), and "Hasta que la muerte nos separe" ("Till Death Do Us Part").
"Pasternak" Two passengers on an airplane start a conversation and discover they both know a man named Gabriel Pasternak; the woman (María Marull), his ex-girlfriend, had sex with his only friend and the man (Darío Grandinetti), a music critic, savagely reviewed Pasternak's work. In fact, everyone on the flight is connected to Pasternak and in some moment wronged or rejected him. A flight attendant reveals Pasternak is the plane's cabin chief and has locked himself inside the cockpit. Amid the panic, as his former psychiatrist tries to reason with him by reminding him that his parents were responsible for his life of misery, Pasternak crashes the airplane into his parents' house.
"Las ratas" At a highway restaurant on a slow night, a waitress (Julieta Zylberberg) recognizes a loan shark (César Bordón) who had, years before, ruined her family, forced them to move and caused her father's untimely death via suicide. The cook (Rita Cortese), who is a felon, offers to mix rat poison into the man's food. The waitress refuses the offer but unbeknownst to her, the cook adds the poison anyway. When the waitress finds out, she does not take the food away from the man. However, the loan shark's teenage son then arrives and begins to share his father's meal. Worried the boy might eat the poison, the waitress tries to remove the plate; she throws food in the man's face and he attacks her in a chokehold. The cook then backstabs and kills the loan shark with a chef's knife. In the last scene, the loan shark's son is getting medical treatment from a responding ambulance while the waitress sits next to him solemnly. The cook is arrested and is driven away in a police car.
"El más fuerte" Diego (Leonardo Sbaraglia) is driving through a desert and tries to overtake a slower, older car that consistently blocks his path. When he finally passes, he insults the other driver, Mario (Walter Donado). Further up the road, Diego gets a flat tire while Mario catches up. Mario parks his car in front of Diego's, smashes Diego's windshield, and then defecates and urinates on it. When Mario is about to leave, Diego pushes him and his car into the river, and drives off. Fearing retribution, Diego returns to run down Mario but loses control and crashes into the river. Mario enters Diego's car and the men start to fight. Mario leaves Diego to be strangled by a seat belt; he then rips off a piece of his shirt, sets fire to it, and places it in the gas tank to incinerate the car, but Diego prevents him from escaping. As the car explodes, the tow truck driver called by Diego arrives. The police later discover the two men's charred bodies holding onto each other and mistake them for lovers who died in a crime of passion.
"Bombita"
Simón Fischer (Ricardo Darín), a demolition expert, picks up a cake for his daughter's birthday party and discovers his car has been towed. He goes to the towed-car lot and explains there were no signs of a no-parking zone. He grudgingly pays the towing fee and misses his daughter's party. The next day, when Simón is refused a refund for the fee at the DMV, he attacks a glass partition and is arrested. The story makes the news and Simón's employer fires him, and his wife (Nancy Dupláa) seeks a divorce and sole custody of their daughter. After Fischer unsuccessfully applies for another job, he discovers his car has again been towed. He retrieves the car, packs it with explosives, and parks it in a tow zone. After it is towed again, he detonates the explosives, destroying the towing office with no casualties. Simón is imprisoned and becomes a local hero, earning the nickname "Bombita" ("Little bomb"), and calls on social media for his release. Simón's wife and daughter visit him in prison for his birthday, presenting him with a cake in the form of the cartoon tow truck Mater, from Cars.
"La propuesta" A teenager, driving his wealthy father's car, arrives home after running into a pregnant woman and driving away thereby committing a felony hit-and-run. On the local news, the woman and her child are reported dead, and her husband swears vengeance. The teenage driver's parents (Oscar Martínez and María Onetto) form a plan with his lawyer (Osmar Núñez) to use the parent's groundskeeper José (Germán de Silva) as a scapegoat in exchange for half a million dollars. The local prosecutor (Diego Velázquez), however, sees through the scheme. The lawyer negotiates to include the prosecutor in the deal for more money, but the guilty son says he wants to confess to the crowd that has gathered outside the house. Frustrated, the father calls off the deal, telling his son to confess. The lawyer renegotiates, still blaming José, but now for a lower price. As José is taken away by the police, the dead woman's husband repeatedly strikes him on the head with a hammer.
"Hasta que la muerte nos separe" At a Jewish wedding reception, the bride Romina (Érica Rivas) discovers her groom Ariel (Diego Gentile) has been having an affair with one of the guests. Romina confronts Ariel as they dance in front of everyone, and in distress, Romina runs to the roof, where a kitchen worker comforts her. Ariel discovers Romina having sex with the worker; she tells Ariel she will sleep with every man who shows her interest, and will take everything Ariel owns if he tries to divorce her, or when he dies. The couple return to the reception and continue the festivities. Romina pulls the woman with whom Ariel had sex onto the dance floor, spins her around, and slams her into a mirror. Romina orders the photographer to film Ariel and his mother weeping, declaring she will show the video at a future wedding. Ariel's mother attacks Romina but Ariel and Romina's father pull her off, and Romina collapses with emotion. Ariel approaches Romina and extends a hand. They dance, kiss, and begin to have sex as the guests leave.
Production
In 2007, director Damián Szifron took a break from directing and producing television series and focused on writing. He worked on three major projects at the same time; a science-fiction film series, a western, and a love story; Szifron was writing short stories to "let off steam" and eventually realized they were related. There were initially twelve to fifteen tales, out of which he chose the "wilder" ones. In a 2015 interview, Szifron explained that all the stories are based on real-life situations of people he has known or that Szifron went through himself. From that platform, he gave imagination free rein. In a more recent interview he tells of getting into an argument with another driver, and pulling over to write, immediately, the story that became "El más fuerte".
At first, all of the stories were written to be independent and each of them could have been made into a film. Szifron thought the stories would have more impact when grouped so he decided to "reduce the conflicts to its minimum and find their climaxes". Often described as a black-humour film, Szifron stressed the stories were not planned as comedies but rather as a thriller or as a drama; according to Szifron, "they begin as dramas. The humor is a consequence of what these characters feel in a very dramatic situation." Ultimately, he thought neither comedy nor drama were appropriate labels, and decided "catastrophe movie" was the best term for it.
All of the stories are very different; production designer Clara Notari said; "They have their own visual identity, as if each were a different movie, with its own spatial dimensions, colors, style, textures and set decoration". Despite this, Szifron said they "are vital organs of the same body" that sustain the film and "together [they] are more robust and make a larger universe". Because of this desire, Szifron abandoned an early pre-production idea of having each episode done in different cinematographic styles—the fifth story would be in black-and-white; the second would be filmed with anamorphic lenses and 35mm film, and the last would be made with video cameras. The director said the film's strength is not in the connection between the stories, and that "they are independent stories, with separate independent characters and conflicts". Szifron said this is because he was inspired by concept and jazz albums, and by the circus. For the albums, the tracks—although a unity—have their "own identity"; during a circus spectacle the different acts have value for different reasons but they are one whole. Szifron was also influenced by television anthology series Amazing Stories, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone; as well as the film New York Stories and the book Nine Stories.
Wild Tales is a co-production of the Argentine firms Kramer & Sigman Films, Telefe Productions and Corner Contenidos; and the Spanish company El Deseo, which is owned by Agustín and Pedro Almodóvar. The Almodóvars became interested in working with Szifron after watching his 2005 film On Probation, saying they wanted to work with Szifron on his next project. With a budget of US$3.3–4.5 million—70% from Argentina and 30% from Spain—Wild Tales had an eight-week filming schedule in April and May 2013 at locations in Buenos Aires, Salta and Jujuy provinces. The third and final acts were the most expensive to film; the third act was filmed on the road that connects Salta and Cafayate because, according to Szifron, "the script required a desolate route with stunning scenery and degrees of sobriety" to have a contrast between the violence of the fight and the beauty of the environment. When filming concluded, there was enough material for "three different movies with different takes" so Szifron went through a six-to-seven-month editing process, which was done in his house.