Stars: Emilio Echeverria, Goya Toledo, Alvaro Guerrero, Vanessa Bauche, Jorge Salinas, Laura Almela, Jorge Arellano, Gael Garcia Bernal

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Summary: Alejandro Gonzalez Iniarritu makes an electrifying directorial debut with AMORES PERROS, an energetic, assured motion picture that jumps off the screen with a seemingly boundless energy. Told in three separate chapters--OCTAVIO AND SUSANA, DANIEL AND VALERIA, and EL CHIVO AND MARU--the film concerns the issue of love in the lives of several individuals residing in modern day Mexico City. Octavio (Gael Garcia Bernal) has fallen in love with his brother's wife, Susana (Vanessa Bauche). He begins entering his dog in illegal dogfights in order to save up enough money to run away with her, but eventually learns a powerful lesson when she fails to keep her word. Meanwhile, Daniel (Alvaro Guerrero) has left his wife and daughters for the gorgeous model Valeria (Goya Toledo), but when she is hurt badly in a car accident, the strain on their relationship is stretched to its limits. Finally, El Chivo (Emilio Echevarria) is an ex-revolutionary who has become a paid assassin. Saddened that he has lost all contact with his daughter, he takes one final stand when an intended act of kindness turns brutally tragic. Shot with hand held immediacy on grainy film stock by Rodrigo Prieto, Iniarritu's invigorating, Oscar-nominated film gets an added jolt of adrenaline from its throbbing soundtrack.

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Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's striking Amores Perrosis the film Pulp Fictionmight have been if Quentin Tarantino were as interested in people as movies. A car crash in Mexico City entwines three stories: in one car is Octavio, who has been entering his dog in fights to get enough money run off with his sister-in-law Susana; in the other car is Valeria, a supermodel who's just moved in with her lover Daniel, who has left his wife for her. As Valeria struggles to recover from her injuries her beloved dog is lost under the floor of the new apartment. Professor-turned-revolutionary El Chivo, who has been living as a derelict/assassin after a long prison sentence, rescues Octavio's injured dog from the crash. All three learn lessons about their lives from the dogs.

Amores Perrosopens with chaos, as Octavio and a friend drive away from the latest dogfight with the injured canine on the back seat and enemies in hot pursuit, then hops back, forward and sideways in time. It's a risky device, delaying crucial plot information for over an hour, but the individual stories, which weave in and out of each other with true-life untidiness, are so gripping you'll be happy to go along with them before everything becomes clear. Inarritu is a real find, a distinctive and subtle voice who upends all your expectations of Mexican filmmaking by shifting confidently from raw, on-the-streets violent emotion to cool, upper-middle-class desperation. A uniformly impressive cast create a gallery of unforgettable characters, some with only brief snippet-like scenes, others--such as Emilio Echevarria as the shaggy tramp with hidden depths--by sheer presence.

On the DVD:The anamorphic presentation, augmented for 16:9 TV, is of a pristine print and shows off the imaginative cinematography (with non-removable yellow English sub-titles). The soundtrack is Dolby Digital 5.1 and there are 15-minutes' worth of additional scenes with commentary by Inarritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga (evidently the surviving trace of an entire feature commentary available on a Mexican DVD release), explaining why they were cut. With a behind-the-scenes featurette, a poster gallery, three related pop videos (two by Inarritu) and the trailer (and trailers for other Optimum releases) the special features offer a more than adequate addition to Amores Perros. --Kim Newman

Main Language:	Spanish
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical, Alternate Scenes with Audio Commentary - 1. Alejandro González Iárritu - Director, Bonus Footage - 1. Behind the Scenes, Music Videos (3), Campaign Development, Scene Access, Interactive Menus
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2000
Release Date:	September 24, 2001
Runtime:	147 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	O P T D 004
Keywords:	Subtitled, Bitch, General, Spanish, Drama, Love's, Amores, Perros
Genre:	Drama