What does a dog fighter, supermodel and assassin have in common?
Presentation:
The debut from Spanish auteur filmmaker Alejandro Iñarritu that turned heads in cinema. The story structure would go on to define his other films, which is to use non-linear story arcs from different perspectives to converge into one story. This would lay the seed for many HBO TV series and you can feel the DNA of a high production modern TV program. Watching in 2025, it’s difficult to not compare it to the future Breaking Bad. Handheld, dutch angles, gritty contrasty visuals, it’s a decent film though polished in future films like Babel.
Analysis:
The film is about finding love in strange places and the multiple stories tries to connect humanity together, despite how distant we feel.
Conclusion:
This is a fantastic debut film with a ton of vision that would go on to influence future Spanish directors. However, the arcs have less relation with each other and I really only cared about Susanna and Octavio’s story. I really couldn’t care less about the supermodel and the film failed to humanize her or make us care. Without anything really tying the arcs together, it felt like 3 short films rather than one cohesive one. Overall, a decent film, but if you’ve watched his other works, this might be slightly underwhelming.
Recommendations
Ghosts of cinema, through memory and sound.