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[Insomnio]

"Relatos Salvajes" is a Spanish-Argentinean co-production which was originally screened as the first movie of the "Athens International Film Festival – Opening Nights". However, the distribution company didn't choose it only for the festival and "Relatos Salvajes" premiered three weeks ago, in selected cinemas in my country. The film was screened in the main part of the Cannes Film Festival, competing for the Palme d'Or. Although it was not the big winner, it received very good reviews by the critics and the viewers. It is the official entry for Argentina on the upcoming Oscars in the category "Best Foreign Language Film".
"Relatos Salvajes" consists of six short stories which appear one after the other. The characters and the stories are not related to each other but they all have one thing in common which is revenge. Damián Szifrón is not only the director of the film but also the screenwriter. He isn't very popular because he hasn't produced a globally recognizable film under his belt. However, I think "Relatos Salvajes" will help him a lot in popularity. He had also the financial support of Pedro Almodovar and his younger brother Agustin Almodovar who they involved as producers on the film. It is one of the few good black comedies I have seen in recent years. I liked all the stories because they were very intriguing and the dialogues were well written, accurate and cynical. It contained tragicomic situations that caused us to laugh several times during the plot. The direction was very good because Szifrón created the right atmosphere depending on the story. The performances were pretty good and the characters were simple and ordinary with some exaggerating doses in some parts. The photography was very good. It has elaborate montage and the music was composed by the famous Gustavo Santaolalla (The Motorcycle Diaries, Brokeback Mountain, Babel etc).
"Relatos Salvajes" is one of the pleasant surprises this year. It's very different than many of the other movies I've seen so far and it was interesting from the beginning till the end. It could be one of the dominant entries for the Oscar because of the imaginative script and the peculiarity of its structure. It was very successful in the Argentinian Box Office, getting a lot of people into the cinema. It has received a very high rating on IMDb (8,4), which shows that people who watched it, already loved it. I highly recommend it.