AFI Fest Review: Wild Tales

Movies don't come more aptly titled than Damian Szifron's Wild Tales, an anthology film comprised of six vignettes where everyday grievances become catastrophic tragicomedies.  Though there isn't a dud in the bunch, not all vignettes are created equal, and the result is an inconsistent, but still uproarious and even profound, series of bizarre circumstances.

The many events of Wild Tales are a comic demonstration of Murphy's Law, and not the watered-down Interstellar version.  Everything that can go wrong, does go wrong for these characters, and often rightfully so.  Karma is known to be a bitch, but here, that bitchiness is taken to another level, as characters get what's coming to them, and then more, until they're drowning in what's coming and won't stop coming.  And we get to watch, cackling, popcorn in hand.  It's a grand display of grotesque humanity.

Though the vignettes are not connected by any characters or narrative threads, there's a thematic undercurrent of normal problems growing into extreme situations (though one might argue the penultimate episode is acctually the opposite).  Each vignette begins with a common occurence: a car getting towed, a bad driver, the discovery of infidelity.  From there, things get - yes - wild.  It's a testament to Szifron's even hand that the film never veers into cartoon territory, even when bodily fluids and shocking violence come into play.  There's a controlled pitch to each situation.  Wild Tales plays like the set of a masterful comedian, who knows just how many details to include in each joke to ensure the maximum payoff.  All of the vignettes do pay off, some with crowning visual gags, some with tenderness, others with bursts of horrific violence.

What the film reveals is that this boring world of ours might not be so boring after all.  The careful mask of manners we all wear is ever just a moment from being torn off, and humanity might not be all it's cracked up to be.  "Humane" is a misleading word.

Perhaps the greatest fault of Wild Tales isn't even a fault, but rather a deliberate decision that might not satisfy all viewers.  The vignettes become longer as the film goes on, and less outright comedic.  The first couple are short gags that are multiple-laugh-a-minute, while the latter three are more fully developed short films, taking their time to flesh out meatier issues and grievances.  It's a fine way to order things, as the drama becomes heavier, and thus more grounded, but the gradual shift in tone is unexpected.  In fact, I think that on a second viewing, I would be able to bask fully in all of the vignetttes, now that I know what to expect from each.

Regardless of how one might receive the whole package, there are moments in Wild Tales that are sure to please anyone, as it draws its humor and drama from numerous wells of inspiration, and paints an upsettling accurate caricature of human behavior, and misbehavior.