That was awesome! It has been a while since I have watched a film that has entertained me this much. I now need to find his other two films to watch. I literally laughed out loud the entire movie. Some would even say that I guffawed with gusto!
Pasternak (name of the antagonist in the short) My ranking: #3
I loved this short. It was my third favourite. As soon as I saw the old couple, it made total sense that they would be the parents. What a hoot!
Las ratas (The Rats) My ranking: #6
I was excited to see
PSA - do not give Yerba Mate to babies! Waaaaaaay too much caffeine. I don't think parenting was a thing this child experienced though, coz it looks like he gets hit with a large ball at the end.
I liked this short as well. I'd rank it my second to last favorite. I was glad the prick died in the end, and had quite an uncomfortable laugh when his son got sick from eating the French fry. I really enjoyed the cook in the short. She was clearly over douchebags and relished the idea of engineering at least one comeuppance. I was particularly amused by her description of how life in jail wouldn't be too bad. I loved the question: When poisons expire does that make them better or worse?
The end scene where the waitress winds up with her face in the blood was brutal. But still funny. Oh my. She is going to need some blood tests. I wouldn't doubt that asshole had all sorts of hepatitis.
El más fuerte (The Strongest) My ranking: #1
This one was my favorite. It was so totally over the top. The constant power shift and resulting inability not to react was hilarious. Each time it escalated I hooted and hollered even more loudly. Talk about building to a climax.
I have a bit of a hard time watching films in Spanish with English subtitles (for the benefit of
@Cubo de Sangre, who despite his name, needs assistance understanding.) I find myself getting distracted with, or engaged by, bad translations, and I loose track of what is happening in the movie. In this short, I noticed that the original insult hurled through the window was:
negro resentido, but the translation was redneck.
Negro resentido translates as resentful black person. The second protagonist was not black, but he clearly had indigenous blood. Combine that with the wrecker he was driving, and the fact that he would not let the newer shinier car (driven by a white dude) pass, and there was clearly some racial/class driven prejudice being shown on both sides. I guess redneck works..... but it didn't feel right to me. It made much more sense in Spanish. Another example of this in this short is that in Spanish the insult
cabrón (bastard) was used (I can't remember who used it though. I think it was the white guy), but in English they translated it as pussy. I don't think this was the best choice. They should have gone with bastard if they wanted to truly reflect the original dialogue.
I loved everything about this short though, all the way until the end when the official wonders if it was a crime of passion because they appeared to die with their arms around each other. The most surprising scene to me was the pooping. What is even funnier is
@Cubo de Sangre had been calling out predictions all movie and had been nailing them all. You didn't see the poop coming, though, did ya Cubo?!!
(to be fair to him, he then proceeded to correctly call out the rest of the movie too.)
Bombita (little bomb) My ranking: #4
This was probably my third to last favorite. The cake box was stunning! I could see why old boy's wife eventually left him. His lack of flexibility made it seem like he might be on the spectrum. The insults he wielded towards the towing and the parking people were beautiful. I really wished I would have jotted them down. They were eloquent and beautiful and used sophisticated adjectives. In this short I found it interesting that his nickname became
bombita. It means little bomb. Bomb is a feminine noun (
bomba), so it isn't possible to say
bombito but you are still left with a diminutive that is grammatically feminine ascribed to this social media character. It was like his nickname identified him, made him famous, but also reduced him to a childlike female character at the same time. I also noticed the use of
flaco (skinny) as a nickname in this short. You gotta love how Hispanic culture with just as easily call. skinny person
flaco or
gordo (fat) and vice versa. Spouses often call each other
Viejo and
vieja as well (old man / old woman).
P
elotudo was the most frequently used insult in the film. It translates as stupid or asshole. In Spain we would have used
gilipollas, in Mexico probably
pendejo.
La propuesta (The Proposal) My ranking: #5
I enjoyed this one, especially when the gardener overheard the negotiations and upped his price. It pulled him out of the victim role and instead made him complicit. He had been with the family for 15 years, and it did make me sad that that was how little he meant to the family. He was described as the
casero, which translates more as house manager. I don't remember what they called him in the subtitles. I noticed that he was the one to calm the son down when the son had a moment of strength and wanted to own his behavior. He was clearly an important part of the household who was deemed expendable as soon as they needed a scapegoat.
I thought it said a lot that the dad was comfortable not overextending himself to save his son. And it didn't say good things, like the dad wanted to teach the son a lesson. It was more, I'm not gonna pay that much! But I was also amused that the dad got tired of feeling totally ripped off, and decided he was done. Does that make him a good businessman? I guess so, since instead of dropping over $2.5 million + $30k, he wound up only spending $1 million. Cubo called the ending, and I anticipated it too. It felt very cavalier to just assume the
casero would take the blame and everything would play out the way it was planned.
Hasta que la muerte nos separe (Until Death Do Us Part) My ranking: #2
This was my second favourite. I loved the energy of the intro wedding scene. It was like a compilation of the best part of every wedding I have ever been to. It felt authentic up until the point where at one point they show a stereotypical hotel hallway with the ugly carpeting. A+ for authenticity. While a little over the top, it did a lovely job of setting up a contrast to the drama that followed.
The bride lost her shit and it was glorious. She stressed old boy out until he puked! How many people can say that about their wedding? It was dark but funny, even when the lover got sling shot into the mirror. The groom's character was not as fully developed, so it was a little harder to see him in a sympathetic light. I enjoyed the scene where he was crying with his mom and the bride insisted that the photographers record it. I did buy into the reconciliation. He did very bad things, but she certainly made up for it and got some nice revenge. At this point the wedding itself was a total shit show. I loved it when the groom finally saw her crying and realized that they had both suffered and decided to try and move forward. For the party to have been so over the top jovial at the start, and for the bride to have felt that kind of anger, there must have been passion in the relationship. I laughed over everyone freaking out when he grabbed the knife. It was obvious he just wanted some of the cake he was going to have to pay for anyway. It felt honest to me when he held his hands out to her to help her up. It felt realistic when she swatted his hands away when he invited her to dance. It was her final show of annoyance before taking them and dancing with him. The kissing that led to them banging on the table by the cake was awesome. If your wedding turns into that kind of shit show, all bets are off, do what you want!
I did like that the movie ended on a happy note!
The original title of this film is
Relatos Salvajes. Wild translates as
salvaje when you are talking about animals or nature. It usually translates as savage or brutal when referring to human behavior. I don't think the title is as effective in English since this movie is riddled with savagery.
