Wild Tales — patience has its limits

Spoiler-free review.

Wild Tales understands the appeal of imagining what you would say or do if you stopped being reasonable. Across six stories, people reach that point and keep going. The pleasure is in watching an ordinary frustration become something wildly disproportionate.

Damián Szifron knows how to ramp things up. He sets up a grievance quickly, lets you see it, then keeps pushing to see how far your sympathy will go. The situations get outrageous, but the irritation underneath is often familiar enough to make the excess satisfying.

The comic timing is the best part for me. A pause, a stubborn response, or someone refusing to let a small thing go can turn the direction of a scene. The dialogue has bite without every exchange needing a punchline. People are usually quite serious about themselves, which makes them funnier.

Like most anthologies, some stories work better than others. A few make their point early and repeat it, while others keep finding new ways to get more absurd. The shared mood keeps the film consistent enough that the different characters don't feel like starting over.

8/10. Wild, darkly funny, and satisfying in a way that is not always comfortable to admit. It gets a lot of comedy out of people who absolutely refuse to calm down.

Directed by Damián Szifron · 2014 · Spanish. Film details · Poster source. Artwork © its respective rights holders.

— Desly