Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Year: 2010
Writers: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Armando Bo
Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto
This is a well made movie, but I think Iñárritu's passion, his idea for what cinema should be is not a contagious idea. The story is so heavy that it failed to live beyond the screen. Amores Perros is still his greatest work. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a great filmmaker, taking on serious subjects, choosing to show things that we haven't seen before... this is great. The problem is that stories must have levity. You can tell a depressing story, in fact, I prefer a pessimistic view to an unrealistically optimistic view in story telling, I am all for realism, showing the way real people suffer... but the way you tell that story must empower the human spirit, educate you, move you... or at least leave you with images that will not leave you alone.
I am okay with a film meandering a bit, like real life, but I found myself wanting either more or less of the chinese story and of the african story. He gave us hints, just little glimpses into their story, but didn't really develop the characters... if you're not going to develop a character, why introduce that character in the first place?
Great cinematography, great acting. Story didn't connect with me as much as I wanted it too. I respect this director a lot, but I don't think I got what he was going for... I'll still be eager to see his next work.
